


Villians Or Heroes ~{SANDERS SIDES}~

by AnxiouslyShipping



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Descendants (Disney Movies) Fusion, Character Death, Disscussions of anorexia and bulemia, Dukeciet - Freeform, Fighting, Fire, Im new here, M/M, Magic, Prinxiety - Freeform, Temporary Character Death, i don't know tags, logicality - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 28
Words: 37,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29460999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnxiouslyShipping/pseuds/AnxiouslyShipping
Summary: "Patton, the people will question this!""Logan is right, Patton! How do we know that they won't be bad? Y-Y'know, like their parents?"Patton scowled at his two best friends but quickly replaced it with a smile. "Well, we have to try!"In Auradon, Prince Patton has been granted to alter one thing about his father's' rule. This is so he can set ideas up for when he finally becomes King. The change was supposed to be something educational, maybe an edit to the curriculum or school hours. Not inviting the children of three villains to go to the most prestigious school.But it's been done now. Virgil, Janus and Remus are leaving their life on the Isle of the Lost to live a new one. And they aren't too happy with this sudden change.Completed, 14/02/21 (14th February, 2021)
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders
Comments: 9
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

Patton sagged. "We still have to try." He glanced up through his curly, light brown hair to see his unconvinced friends. "Guys, you know how important this is to me! If I can change the children on the Isle, I'll be adored by both sides! I'd be a hero! Roman, wouldn't you want that for me?"

Roman jumped, flustered by the sudden direction. "O-Of course I would, Patton!"

"But if it fails," Logan, the most intelligent of them all spoke up, "you'd be stuck with the reputation of a failure, who couldn't rule his own kingdom. And we don't want you to go through that!"

"So we won't bring them all in at once!" Patton pleaded. "Just three to start with! The worst ones, at least!"

Roman and Logan exchanged a glance. They never usually agreed unless it was for Patton. Neither wanted to say how doubtful they were that this plan would work, there were too many cons. But Roman didn't want to make Patton sad and Logan had no idea how to express his argument without seeming rude.

Logan sighed. "Who did you have in mind, Patton?"

Patton gasped and grinned quickly. "Okay, okay, so! I thought that we should go with some of the worst ones first, so I think that we should have Ursula's' son-!"

"Doesn't Ursula have a daughter?" Roman mused with a frown. 

Patton shook his head. "She does, but Uma's far too rebellious, apparently. I overheard it when I was waiting to talk to my father and some of the men who go undercover in the Isle were there."

"Right, okay, continue." Roman apologised with a small dip of his head.

"Then we'll have Jafar's' son-!" Patton tried again.

Logan cleared his throat. "Would that be wise? We have Aladdin working in this school as a teacher. Wouldn't putting the son of the man who tried to ruin his life make him uncomfortable?"

"B-But that's the thing, Logie! We need to make everyone more comfortable with things like this! Otherwise, we'll never be able to get rid of the Isle for good!" Chirped Patton.

The other two princes locked eyes with each other instantly. Patton didn't notice, too busy ranting about how bad and discriminatory the Isle was. Roman shook his head, widening his eyes. Logan gave a silent sigh, nodding in agreement. Both knew how unlikely that idea was but they'd never tell him. He had to grow up, sooner or later.

"Who's the final one then, huh, Pat?" Roman said in a jokey tone, struggling to hide his growing discomfort.

Patton paused hesitatingly. "Promise you won't freak out?"

"Of course we won't," Promised Logan, "Who is it?"

"The son of Maleficent?"

And his two best friends freaked out.


	2. Chapter 2

Virgil waited and then snatched the apple off the stand. The seller noticed immediately, snapping his head away from his customer. The man was no one important. Just another lowly pirate from Captain Hook's' ship, illusioned with the idea of importance.

"Hey! You put back my apple, you squirt!" He yelled.

Virgil scoffed rudely and threw the apple in a perfect arc into the hands of one of his best friends. Remus caught it and tossed it behind him. Deceit ducked out from behind the man, darting forwards quickly to catch the apple. The pirate stepped forwards with a furious scowl and Virgil used this brief distraction.

He snatched the purse off the mans' belt before vaulting over the stall stand, kicking over a neat stack of melons with his muddy boot. The pirate screamed angry curses as Virgil lobbed the purse into the hands of Remus. The boy added it to the collection of jangling pouches on his belt as Deceit flailed his staff. People parted from their path like the ground was promptly poisonous despite the crowd being unpartable only a few seconds ago.

"Scarper!" Yelped Remus gleefully, rushing down the newly formed ally with Deceit hot on his heels. Virgil felt the leathery wings materialise on his back and he flapped over to join his friends instantly.

.:*:.

"Damn, that guys' face was totally not the highlight of my day!" Lied Deceit with a snort. His name wasn't really Deceit, it was Janus. He was the son of Jafar, conjured by genie magic. This made him a genie himself, and he used his father's' staff for symbolism - it wasn't needed for anything. Many people think that genies can only grant three wishes because of the bumbling blue one. That was total crap. Those were just the rules and Janus constantly broke them.

Remus cackled. "And when Vee kicked over his melons and they landed in the mud!" Remus was the son of Ursula and was honestly worse than his sister. This group had just always managed to stay away from those undercover Auradon scum so they never knew.

Yeah, they knew they were here. It was obvious from the permanently uncomfortable look in their eyes and how they could never be found on the weekends. And they'd also shrug and say they were just a pawn. No one ever called themselves a 'pawn'. These undercover spies were idiots.

"Yeah, good work with that, Virgil!" Purred Janus, leaning forwards. Half of his body was covered in greenish-yellow snake scales while the rest was human. He'd always be trapped in this 'half-form' because it was the most efficient way to run away from people. Oh, and it gave him a split tongue Janus thought split tongues were attractive.

Virgil smirked. "Thanks, guys. You did good, too."

Remus chuckled in his insane way. "We shouldn't be doing good though! We should be doing the evilest shit we can!"

This kicked the group off into rapturous laughter.

"That dick should definitely lower his prices, though," Janus smirked. "If he did, then maybe people like us wouldn't have to ruin his day!"

"We'd still ruin his day." Commented Virgil, rolling his eyes.

They laughed again and Virgil felt his wings vapourize. They were his pride and glory and they were practical because they never ruined his clothes. Having Maleficent as your mother was definitely a blessing, period.

The trio was sitting in a shack that had been built inside the biggest tree. Everyone stayed away from it, not because they were being respectful but because the three children could be dangerous when they wanted to. That's why no one stops them. Not after what happened five years ago.

Virgil was the youngest and smallest. He was skinny and pale with black hair that possessed purple highlights. His eyes were usually green, like a serpents' but would turn a poisonous purple whenever sorcery was brought up. Okay, so some parts of his heritage gave him a small problem. He hated sorcery because it was actually evil. Like, even evil people said it was evil. That's why his mother practically ruled the Isle. And that's why Virgil only ever relied on smaller tricks that he could do with normal magic. And that's why you never mention the 's' word.

Remus was the one in between the others, height and age-wise. While Virgil was fifteen, he was sixteen and a month old and never stopped bragging about it. He could into a giant octopus but, other than that, didn't have any other magical abilities. What he lacked in magic, he more than made up for in gruesome ideas and brute strength. He had become the 'strong' friend, the one who bullied victims into getting what they wanted. Remus was incredibly fun.

Janus was the oldest and tallest. Four months older and six inches taller than Remus made him the ring leader. He had black hair that still managed to glow gold at certain angles. One eye was puffy and red from an incident five years ago that they don't mention, but the other was brown, like wood. His human skin was smooth and his scales were slick, hands gloved. For all the children of the Isle, he was the Heather Chandler. He ruled over everyone aged twenty and under.

That's when their parents opened the door.

"Boys," Said Jafar, his 'genie side' flickering back and forth from view, "We have some interesting news."


	3. Chapter 3

Ursula swam around in the large pool that Maleficent had installed. This was the woman's' equivalent of pacing. Maleficent had managed to chip slightly through the barrier before Virgil's' birth and she could use basic magic, just like everyone else now could. This is why she was the unspoken dictator. At least, that was one of the reasons.

"Children, we have some interesting news." Ursula said.

"We know, Jafar said." Virgil answered, crossing his arms as he stood in the middle of his friends. He was very small, only coming up to Remus's' shoulder. He still managed to make grown men cower.

Jafar frowned and held up a letter. The envelope was woven with a rouge wax stamp. "This arrived while you three were out in the market. It's from Auradon Castle."

The boys stiffened, exchanging glances. After a silent conversation of looks, eyebrow raises and shrugs, Janus looked at his father. "What do we have to do with it? It's not like it's addressed to us."

"It may not be addressed to you but it's about you." Ursula commented from her pool, propelling over to the side. "They are requesting you to join their school."

"What?" Frowned Remus, pulling back from the letter he'd been curiously reaching for. "Why the hell would they want us to be in their big fancy school?!"

Ursula glared at her son. "Silence, Remus," She scolded, clouting him over the back of the head with a tentacle. Remus flinched slightly, head bowed.

"So they want us in their school," Virgil said slowly, "And it's not April Fools, right?"

"No, it isn't." Jafar sighed angrily. "Your mother, Virgil, wants you three to go. As insiders. And then you'll free us. But Ursula thinks-"

"It's a stupid idea!" Interrupted Ursula, obviously enthusiastic about conveying her opinion. "This could be some form of trap to get us to surrender something or a way to turn you against us! I don't want some posh kings and pretty mermaids taking my son from me!"

Virgil used this moment to glance at his mother. She was always there, in the shadows. Her horns were glistening in the dying light and Virgil raised his hand to feel his own growing horns that hid under his hair. She always made him uncomfortable and she knew it. She was sitting on an old desk and she was leaning back lazily. This was all she did. Sit there and threaten people. But she'd kill you. That was the difference between her and the other two adults. Her threats were real. Her threat was real. She was a monster. And, god, did she know it.

Maleficent stepped from the shadows, her tight black robes fitting her ageing form somehow. "I understand your points, Ursula." She said, getting the attention of everyone in the room instantly. "But it must be done. We put our sons in Auradon and our sons get us out. And then we rule." She smiled. Virgil wanted to vomit.

"I agree with Maleficent but we shouldn't separate Remus from you. He assists you and you cause more chaos together than apart." Jafar commented. "But we can't sign for Remus to go without Ursula's' permission."

Janus turned to look at the octopus. "If you sign, you'll be the terror of the seas again. The scourge and queen. Triton would crumble beneath your power and you'd crush Ariel with a blink of your eye. But if you don't sign, we can't go and we can't get you out. And you'll be stuck here as a forgotten failure, sitting on this trophy island of those Auradon skanks." Ursula listened to Janus speak, face blank and considering. "Surely this isn't what you want? Or what you deserve? How did the great Queen of the Sea go from there to what I see before me-"

"Give me that paper, I'm signing it!" Ordered Ursula. Maleficent smirked, handing over the sheet. Ursula wiped an inky finger across a dotted line, writing her name in swirly handwriting. She handed up the sheet and Jafar scribbled his name.

Then she took it. Maleficent made direct eye contact with Virgil. And she signed it. The signatures glowed and the paper faded away.

"You'll be going soon." She smiled.


	4. Chapter 4

The whole Isle were standing in the market. Even Ursula was there and she hated leaving her pool. Virgil, Janus and Remus, the stars of this silent show, were standing there, waiting. They only held drawstring bags, not needing anymore. No one spoke at all, standing so still that even a statue would look more animated than them. Maleficent broke the silence with an impatient growl and any commoner in the radius of five feet scurried back instantly.

That's when the large black car pulled in. It was sleek and shiny, a beautiful vessel that made every villain gasp. Remus smirked, trying to swallow a cackle. His attempts failed and he snickered rudely. Virgil scoffed at the older boys' amusement, despite smirking himself. The juxtaposition was so starkly obvious and it made the rest of the crowd burst in hysterics.

The driver was in a posh white suit and he got out fearfully to be surrounded by insane laughter. He looked terrified and Janus smirked. He sauntered over, smiling venomously.

"You're our chauffeur, skank?" He leered. The driver nodded, eyes already brimming with tears. "Then get us to Auradon before we kill you!"

The driver whimpered and Remus piped up. "Don't worry," He said comfortingly, "We'll only tear of your arms and peel off your skin! While your alive, of course." Virgil cackled.

"Y-Yes, sirs. P-Please get in." The driver said, probably on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Virgil shouldered past him to the front of the car and looked at the smooth bonnet. There wasn't a single scratch on it, a beautiful, silver trinket or King Beast sitting on the top. He thought for a moment and then grew his hand into a claw. He scratched off the King's' face smoothly, leaving monstrous tears in the silver.

Remus gasped. "We're allowed to vandalise the car?"

"No, Remus, Virgil just had to fix something," Janus smirked as Virgil walked back to them, hissing at the driver. The driver cringed back, tears beginning to fall as the crowd jeered. "We'll get in now."

The half-genie beckoned for his friends as he climbed into the back of the limousine. Remus jumped in after him and Virgil paused, making eye contact with his mother. Her eyes flashed green and his flashed purple. Then he stepped into the vehicle.

"Wh-When we cross the barrier," Stuttered the driver as he kicked the car into action, "Any of you with magic abilities may feel an odd sensation of power returning. Please don't use any in here or we're a-all going to die."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm the only one who tries to kill us and I don't have enough magic for that!" Remus shrugged, grinning. Janus and Virgil laughed as the driver shot them a horrified look in the rear-view mirror.

Taking twists and turns down the winding alleyways of the Isle, they reached a crumbling bridge that ran straight into the barrier.

Virgil froze. "Wh-What are you doing?"

"You driving straight for that bridge, are you trying to kill us?" Yelled Janus, pulling back and scrambling over seats to try to get away.

The car ran for the crumbling bridge and the three boys in the back started screaming. That's when the man pressed a button on the dashboard and the barrier stopped shining. The car drove forwards and suddenly was caught on a bridge that just materialised there. It was odd and glistening, a pastel rainbow that stretched across the ground. The barrier closed off behind them and the three stopped screaming.

And then Virgil started screaming again. His eyes were a vibrant and venomous purple and his teeth were growing like fangs. His body was suddenly coated in a shivering blanket of purple mist. The young boy thrashed around in his seat, kicking out as he screamed.

"Virgil!" Yelled Remus, reaching for the small boy and then Janus began to scream. His was more unearthly, skin turning a full, ghostly yellow. Remus turned to look at the back of the driver's' head. "What are you doing to them?!"

The chauffeur shook his head vigorously. "This isn't me, it's their magic returning! They're obviously powerful if this is how they are reacting!"

Janus's' cry turned to a yowl of an injured animal, a golden lamp forming in his lap. Virgil's' scream turned to a deadly roar and Remus tried desperately to snap them out of this phase.

The shrieks of pain continued for at least a minute before the two stopped at the same time. Janus looked at the lamp in his lap. "What?"

"Ah, so you're Jafar's' son. Because you are a half-genie, in Auradon, you'll get your lamp. You never had one on the Isle because they formed magically. Now, you can never let anyone you don't trust touch this lamp or they'll try to use you for it." Explained the driver, seeming a lot calmer now his passengers had stopped screaming like Satan.

"Does this mean I'll only be able to grant three wishes? A-And I'm trapped?" Janus asked, inspecting the lamp.

The driver glanced at the half-genie through the mirror. "No, you won't be trapped. You're a half-genie. And you are supposed to grant three wishes now you're in Auradon, but I'm sure you were doing that earlier." Janus tried to hide his smirk by ducking his head.

Virgil blinked away the final purple flecks from his serpent-green eyes. "What happened to me, then?"

"Because you're the son of a sorceress," Virgil flinched, "You had all her magic flood into you. She left all her magic here and now you've picked it up. You can now be one of the most powerful sorcerers alive if you learn to control your magic."

Virgil frowned. "I thought sorcery was really, really evil."

The chauffeur glanced at him with concern. "Sorcery is the source of all magic. It's amazing and wonderous! The Fairy Godmother is a sorceress herself! All fairies are..."

The three boys stared at each other and then turned back to the Isle. Damn, they really wanted to be back home.

.:*:.

She felt them go. She felt him take her magic. She felt the connection, his uncertainty, his dear, his anxiety and his discomfort. She felt his voice and the presence of a foe.

She felt her son's' mind and she was ready to exploit it.


	5. Chapter 5

Roman was the son of Cinderella and it suited him. He had his fathers' dark hair, with blonde highlights that caught the light and dazzled everyone. He went to every single party that was held on campus and only ever left at midnight. Roman was strong and athletic, the schools' head of almost every sports team. Popular and handsome, he had turned the school from an anti-LGBTQ+ place to the most accepting society ever. Roman now stood next to Patton, and he glanced over his friends' head to catch Logan's' eye.

Logan was the son of Snow White. His hair was black and his skin was pale. Logan was good looking, although Roman definitely was more handsome and attractive. He had an allergy to apple seeds, which was rather ironic because apples were his favourite food. Obsessed with how the Evil Queen had put his mother to sleep, he was the schools' most prestigious student, starring in alchemy and science. Roman practically paid Logan to do his homework. So did half the school. Only Roman ever got taken up on the offer.

Patton was well aware of his two friends exchanging glances above his head. He was short, with a round face and freckles. He, like Logan, wore glasses and, just like his friends, had big brown eyes. Patton was the head cheerleader and the head of the school council. Future King of Auradon and son of Belle and Beast, he ruled the school through love and kindness. No one could say a bad word about him. Besides, if they did, his two friends would come crashing down on them hard.

The three were untouchable, like an angelic version of the Plastics. They were all gay and they were all accepting. Everyone wanted to be their friend and many people were, but they never reached the fame the trio had.

And now the entire school waited in the courtyard for the limousine. A small ping sounded from Patton's' phone and he gestured quickly for the marching band to start playing. The 'ping' meant that the villains were approaching.

.:*:.

Virgil jumped from his sleep as he heard the distant sound of drums, growing closer. Groggily and slowly, he shifted up in his seat to peer out of the window.

"What's going on?" Asked Janus, brushing sweet wrappers off his lap. The villains had found the candy and chocolate and had managed to cleanse the shelf of almost everything. Remus shuffled in his seat, trying to peer through the front window.

"I can only see bushes," Remus said helpfully, trying to stand up without leaving his seat.

The driver glanced up at them through the rearview mirror, nervous. "You'll see the school soon."

And they did. Auradon Prep was a white castle, tall and fantastic. It put every beautiful thing to shame, with torrents that stretched to the cloudless, baby blue sky and majestic windows that caught the golden sunlight and shone like the blinding sea.

The villains trailed their gaze down in unison to the gathering of princes and princesses. There was a marching band gathered to the left and rows of people watched on nervously as the car pulled up outside three boys their age, standing formerly. They were to the right of the car so Janus opened his door, which was to the left.

He hid the lamp in his jean's' back pockets and smirked at the gasp he heard from the crowd of the left. His appearance had obviously shocked them, as no one expected to see a boy with half of his face human. The half-genie gave a cocky bow, stepping around the trunk of the car, leaning on the window as if to hide his friends.

.:*:.

Roman was annoyed by this entrance. Surely, they could've had just exited by the door closer to the people obviously waiting for them instead of this unnecessary gesture. The boy's' face was covered in scales on one side, and his eye was puffy and red, looking inflated.

Roman tried to peer at the rest of the villains but this boy blocked his view, stifling the curious venture. The next villain left the car from the same side. He wore an odd costume, that was black and seaweed green. His hair was brown with an ash-grey fringe. The villain moved to sit on the roof, cackling as he jumped up. He looked like an idiot, behaved like an idiot and visibly was an idiot. Obviously, none of the two was Maleficent's' child. 

So that meant he was. Roman couldn't see any horns, but he saw a few tufts of black hair. And then a boy just smaller than Patton and paler than Logan stepped into view. His green eyes were mesmerising and he was wearing a thick, baggy black hoodie, checkered with grey on the sleeves, that hid away the villains' frame. He sat on the trunk, hair falling over his face. He didn't look like much. But he observed them as though they were no one compared to him. Roman decided instantly that he didn't like any of them at all.

"Hi, welcome to Auradon!" Patton said brightly, working his natural charm almost instantly. "I'm Prince Patton, and these are my two friends, Prince Logan and Prince Roman."

Maleficent's' son raised an eyebrow at Patton but quickly turned to face the half-snake, as did the other.

The half-snake bowed, something glinting in his back pockets that Roman couldn't see properly. "You will call me Deceit. I am the son of Jafar, a half-genie by birth." His eyes shot up and locked with Pattons'. "And I promise to be good." The other villains snickered rudely. Someone in the audience behind Roman tensed.

"I am Remus, son of Ursula! Have you ever tried descaling a fish while it's alive?" Rambled the one with the grey fringe, obviously insane. "It's funny when you watch them writhe!"

Patton paled.

The one on the trunk just smirked. "Sorry 'bout the car."

"The car?" Frowned Logan, as his eyes travelled over the limousine. He noticed something on the bonnet and sighed. "Oh. I see. It'll be fixed. Your name?" The villain just flipped him off.

Patton gasped, obviously shocked by this behaviour. Roman jumped into action. "Honestly, such a unique gesture. What are you, four?"

"What are you, a cliche?" Answered Deceit, raising an eyebrow.

"I-It doesn't matter, Ro, don't worry!" Hurried Patton, giving him a pleading stare. Roman sighed, backing down reluctantly. "It's tour time!"


	6. Chapter 6

Janus woke up and nearly freaked out. Then he remembered. "I hate being a half-genie." He hissed, moving around the small inside of his lamp. It was impossibly dark, and he couldn't find the lamps' chute. "Remus! Remus!" He cried, pounding hopelessly on the wall of the lamp.

"No, five more minutes..." Whined the voice of his friend, rolling over to get away from whatever was disturbing him.

"Remus! Get me out of here!" Bellowed Janus, kicking the lamp. It swayed slightly and then toppled over to the side with a loud crash that reverberated in the half-genies' head. Janus was knocked from the air onto the uncomfortable metal of the lamp. "Remus, please get me out!" He screamed.

"Is there a problem?" Said a new voice. It was the voice of Prince Logan, distant and muffled.

Janus hesitated. If they knew he now could be trapped in a lamp, they could use that against him. Granted, they were Auradon kids but they'd trapped them on that Isle for most of their life. Who's to say they wouldn't trap him in the lamp? "There's no problem! Go screw yourself! Remus, wake up, now!"

"Jan, tell Virgie that I'm not going to the market right now. Tell him that I wanna sleep for five more minutes..." Remus mumbled sleepily, splaying out on the bed just as Janus found his exit. The boys' hand smacked into the lamp, sending it spinning off onto the ground.

The half-genie growled, feeling the fluffy carpet halt his skid across the ground. "Remus, get up you fool! Get me out of here, you stupid octopus, let me out!"

"I'm terribly sorry for this intrusion but I'm afraid I'll have to enter to see what the problem is." Said Prince Logan in a monotone voice. He'd been standing out there the whole time?!

The door was opened, and the intellectual princes' footsteps could be heard.

Remus sat up in bed as Janus could see from his awkward viewpoint. "Janus, did you do your hair different?" He asked Logan.

"Remus, you idiot, get me out of here!" Shrieked Janus, pounding his fists hopelessly. "I don't know how to get out, you dumb fool! It's not letting me out!"

This stirred the idiot and Remus jumped out of the bed, dropping to look under the beds for where ever the half-genie was.

"Excuse me, I'm really confused. Where is the half-genie?" Asked Logan, eyes following Remus with masked concern.

Janus growled. "Oh, you're both idiots. Virgil! Virgil! Virgil, where are you? Virgil, get here right now! I need help and Remus is too stupid to deliver it!"

A shadow was cast across the ground, slouched against the door frame. "Jan? I still need to fix-" His friend paused instantly, probably seeing Prince Logan. "What's going on..?"

"Virgil, I'm stuck in here! And get that damned prince outta this room!" Shouted Janus, pounding his fists on the lamps' metal. It only increased his now growing headache.

The shadow moved and he saw Virgils' sneakers step to Logans' polished black shoes.

"Get outta here, you heard him," Virgil said, pushing the prince away.

"Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" Asked the prince incredulously.

"Nope!" Virgil answered, popping the 'p' as he shut the door in the Logans' face. "Remus, Jan is literally right there."

A rustling noise Janus hadn't even noticed to his left stopped and he heard loud footsteps thump towards him. It made his lamp bounce around on the ground and he hit his head. "Oh god, Jan, I'm so sorry, man!"

"You should be, you fool!" Hissed the half-genie, feeling hands scoop up the lamp.

Remus hesitated. "Do I actually need to rub this three times?"

Janus shrugged although his friends couldn't see. "I don't know, this is my first time. Just try it!"

There was a weird noise from the roof and Janus was suddenly ejected from the lamp, smacking into the bedpost and making it skid across the ground.

"That," Hissed the half-genie, lying sprawled on the ground, "Did not help my headache."

Virgil helped him up. "I can't stay for long, my room is still, y'know..." The smallest villain shrugged nervously, eyes downcast at the floor.

Janus smiled. "It's fine, Virgil. Although you're gonna want to get out before I beat the hell out of Remus for smacking me across the room."

"You're gonna what?" Asked Remus.

Virgil snickered. "I'll chase the nerd prince away too. See y'all!" And he gave a quick two-fingered salute, leaving the room and shutting the door firmly behind him.

.:*:.

Logan raised an eyebrow as Virgil left the room with a tiny smirk. The villain caught him staring and lost the smile. He sneered quickly, turning to face the prince.

"What do you want?" Virgil asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"To give you your timetables. I heard yelling and decided to offer my assistance."

He handed the villain the three clean sheets of paper he'd kept perfectly folded in his pockets. Virgil stretched out for them and paused. He took them tentatively, opening them.

Virgil frowned. "What's Reformation?"

"Ah," Logan said, straightening up. "This was an idea presented to Prince Patton, by the student council. They believed that you'd bring the morals you learnt on the Isle with you to Auradon and thought that to be a problem."

"Do you?" Sneered Virgil, raising a single eyebrow.

Logan ignored him. "This is to help you get used to Auradon culture and behaviour, to turn you into proper citizens. To 'reform' you. Hence, Reformation is a private class that only you will take for now. If this project succeeds, then we will have more Isle kids brought to Auardon and will take the class too."

The villain scanned over the sheets. "They're all the same... Who's whose?"

"They have your names at the top," Logan informed, gesturing. A loud shriek could be heard from inside Remus's' and Janus's' room. "I'm sorry, what's going on in there?"

Virgil wafted his hand around. "Doesn't matter, nerd. You go and do whatever you princes do. I'm sure we'll find our way around the school without your creepy ass trailing after us." Virgil said, moving to turn away.

Logan hesitated with a frown. "How could someones' ass be creepy?"

"Oh my god, how literal can you be?" Virgil laughed, pushing his bedroom door open slightly. The bookshelf was smouldering in its' own remains through the small gap. "I don't know who's more stupid, you, Patton or Princey!"

Beginning to comment on the wrecked bookshelf, Virgil stepped into his room. "I hope I don't see you anytime soon!" He chirped sarcastically, before shutting the door firmly.

Logan rolled his eyes with a sigh, deciding not to struggle with the villain for a simple inquiry.

.:*:.

Roman looked up as his roommate entered. The prince was lounging on his bed, looking exhausted. He was applying blister cream to his feet, having danced till midnight at the local club, as usual.

"Hey, Lo. Villains give you trouble?" Roman chirped, returning his attention to his heel.

"No, they seemed quite desperate to be rid off me," Logan replied, moving to his bookshelf to find a large novel to read today.

Roman narrowed his eyes, fiddling around with his feet like he did every morning. "Suspicious. Do you know what they were doing?"

Logan shook his head. "I could only gather from vocal hints what was going on. Jafar's' son seemed to be stuck somewhere and he needed help. He demanded only for the other villains to help him, which is understandable."

"Where was he stuck again?" Roman asked, getting off his bed.

"I didn't see him anywhere. I could only hear him. Oh, and Virgil has destroyed his bookshelf somehow."

Romans' mouth dropped open. "No way, what?"

Logan shrugged, finally finding a book he hadn't read and slipping it into his bag that was already packed.

"Logan, you can't just leave me hanging for details!" Protested Roman as his friend moved to leave.

"I'll see you in Alchemy, Roman."

"H-Hey! Logan, no fair, man! Tell me the tea!"


	7. Chapter 7

Everyone avoided them. Understandable.

The three villains sat on the table in the very centre of the cafeteria. They all had food on plates in front of them, only one untouched. They were whispering to each other, communicating in tiny smirks and eyebrow raises.

Everybody around them was too nervous to introduce themselves. Good.

They didn't want any company other than each other. The cafeteria staff didn't trust them at all, shooing them away from the counter the moment they'd collected their food. Janus still managed to steal an apple, which Virgil was shrivelling with magic.

The cafeteria wasn't silent at all, obviously. If it was, the villains wouldn't be talking. They weren't used to crowds. Patton collected his breakfast and bounded over to his best friends.

"C'mon, Pat, let's go sit!" Laughed Roman, beginning to walk backwards into a crowd that parted for him.

Logan sighed at Romans' 'irresponsible and dangerous' behaviour, following after the prince. Patton giggled, skipping after them as he made enthusiastic haste to the middle table. The three princes paused.

Janus looked up from whatever he'd been saying and locked eyes with Patton. "Do you need anything?" He drawled, lazily.

"You're sitting at our table," Roman replied crossly. Oh, he did not like these guys.

"Aw, we're awfully sorry. Don't go find somewhere else to sit." Janus smirked, before turning back to watch Virgil peel off the apples' skin with a purple haze.

Logan tensed slightly. "Could you please not play with that apple?"

Virgil didn't turn to face them. "Why?"

"I'm quite allergic."

Remus tilted his head. "You could die?"

"Maybe. It is not an impossible outcome."

The villains had one of their silent conversations. Then Virgil snickered, giggled and laughed into his hand. Remus began to laugh too, hardly containing his amusement at whatever they were thinking about.

"Remus!" Snapped Janus, turning to glare down the other. "He's way too young to hear that!"

Patton blinked. "What?"

Roman glared, getting more annoyed. "Could you just stop playing with the apple and leave already?"

The apple evaporated into a small, greenish light which then sucked in on itself. Gone instantly. Virgil finally faced the princes, leaning back and kicking his legs up onto the table. "There you go, Princey. Now piss off." He smirked a crooked grin.

"I don't think so, this is our table!" Scoffed Roman.

"Guys, let's just get along here," Lectured Patton.

Logan bit the inside of his cheek for a moment before saying, "Surely we could all just sit on the same table. If we don't converse, there shouldn't be a problem."

Janus rolled his eyes. "Glad to see the three of you have at least one working brain cell."

The princes sat, Logan taking up the last seat next to Remus, Patton sitting opposite and Roman having to sit next to Virgil. The villains still gave each other weird eyebrow raises and glances. They continued to snicker while the princes struck up a conversation about education.

Remus finished off his food, brushing his plate aside. Only a moment later, Janus had finished.

Patton, Logan and Roman polished their plates in minutes and Virgil still had untouched food before him. He didn't seem to care or even notice and Roman was ravenous. The prince pinched the edge of the plate, slowly pulling it towards him. Damn, Virgil had gotten sausages and waffles and scrambled eggs and white toast and-

His hands suddenly slapped his mouth, stingingly fast. "What the hell are you doing?" Questioned Janus with a sneer, hand gestured to cover Romans' mouth.

"It doesn't matter, Jan, he can have my food." Virgil shrugged. Romans' eyes widened. Had he been that obvious? "I'm really not that hungry." The villain pushed his plate to the prince, eyes diverted on the food. His stomach growled.

Roman hesitated but took the plate. "Th-Thank you?" 

Virgil shrugged again.

"Vee," Remus began, face dropping to one of uncharacteristic concern.

"Don't stress it, Remus. So what happened after you took Uma's' hair dye?"

The villains reluctantly picked up their conversation again. Roman turned to his friends and whispered, "They're so weird..."

"Roman, be nice." Patton hissed back awkwardly, keeping his gaze fixed on his empty plate. "He just gave you his food."

"He said he wasn't hungry!" Protested Roman, flushing.

A scrape of chair and Janus had stood up. He swung his head to narrow his eyes at the princes. "If," He said, "You're going to talk about us behind our backs, at least wait until we leave because we are literally sitting at the same table."

Remus jumped up next, his chair clattering to the ground as he pointed his finger accusingly at Roman. "Yeah, even Isle kids have more tact than that!"

"Let's go, guys. Help them to gossip." Sneered Virgil, not giving the princes a second glance. He picked up a bag that had an unusual burn mark by the zip and slung it over his shoulder. Maleficent's' son walked away hurriedly, his friends glaring at the princes before chasing after them. Everyone pulled away from the darkly dressed trio.

Roman raised his hands up defensively as he shrugged under Pattons' hard gaze. "What?"


	8. Chapter 8

Virgil stared at the blackboard with no focus. It just blurred before him, like most things ended up doing. He had an open notebook that was pastel purple. The Fairy Godmother, who'd been teaching these lessons, had given it to him and the others. So they could write 'good' tips. Like they were idiots.

Usually, in times like this, Virgil would feel alone. But he didn't anymore. The voice had helped him and had been so nice to him. And he'd do anything the voice said. The voice promised it would get him away from Auradon, back to his home. And he wanted that. The voice had told him to be patient, to just wait for more instructions. It was whispering his name, trying to get his attention, to promise him more comfort.

Virgil.

Virgil.

Virgil.

Virgil.

Virgil!

"Virgil!" Shouted the Fairy Godmother and the villain jumped, knocking a stack of books to the ground. He tried to force her to be clearer, only managing to see two different versions of her. They were half conjoined, and he didn't know who to look at as they spread out and in.

"Yes?" He asked, finally focusing on the one to the right. The pastel blue dress sucked together and she was suddenly in the middle of his vision, outline fuzzy.

She sighed. "Now, did you hear anything I was saying?"

Maleficent's' son glanced quickly at Remus, whose eyes darted and blinked in rapid succession. Anyone else would've seen a blank face. Virgil saw the answer.

"You were... talking about why our parents' actions were evil and dangerous?"

The Fairy Godmother blinked and frowned. "Cor-rect... Please look like you're paying attention in future, Virgil, not all teachers are as nice as me!"

Oh boy, were they. It was the last lesson on a Wednesday and the Fairy Godmother was the only teacher who hadn't tried to patronise them while still behaving respectfully. She was definitely a favourite. The doors swung open and Prince Roman walked in.

He turned bright red when the three villain kids fixed him with an uninterested stare but continued on his path to the Fairy Godmother. He handed her a perfectly round apple, the colour of rubies.

"Sorry for intruding, miss, but Patton said this was too good for him to eat. He had a council meeting and asked me if I could take it to you because, clearly, you are the only one worthy of such beautiful fruit." Roman simpered.

"Ssssuck up!" Hissed Janus, his forked tongue warping his speech slightly. All Virgil could think of was how good Roman looked when he bowed. Oh, shit, not now, gay thoughts, he is a prick! No gay thoughts, no gay thoughts-

The Fairy Godmother laughed, taking the apple. "Tell Patton he's very kind, Roman. Would you mind staying and helping a bit? Only I think it's your free period now, correct?"

Roman nodded brightly. "What do you need, Miss?"

"The new students aren't focusing very hard and I believe they are getting distracted. Could you make sure they keep up with the lesson?"

The prince looked slightly put out at the idea but nodded. "Of course. Who should I help first?"

"Virgil, first. He has no notes down."

"I tried!" Virgil protested. "But the paper was hard to write on!"

Remus began to snicker. "Virgil, you were writing on your arm! And you didn't even write anything, you just doodled!"

Virgil made an '0' shape with his mouth and Janus cackled along with Remus, both laughing at the scrawnier villain. "So that's why my arm hurt when I wrote..."

"Oh, wow, Virgil, how did you not even notice you were writing on your own arm?" Janus teased, leaning back in his chair.

Virgil shrugged. "It's not my fault everything is blurry all the time." His friends just burst into more laughter but Roman frowned slightly and Virgil felt his stomach fall. Was it something he said?

Roman nodded at the Fairy Godmother and walked towards Virgil. He knelt down by his desk as the Fairy Godmother started speaking again.

"So..." Roman said, trying to sound casual. "What did you draw on your arm?"

Virgil shrugged. "I have no idea. It was probably attempts at writing words. We're illiterate."

Romans' jaw dropped. "No way, really? So you've never read or wrote anything?"

"That's what illiterate means, Princey." Virgil rolled his eyes.

"Okay, sorry. Logan would freak out if he knew that. Anyway, what did you write on your arm?" Roman asked again, obviously awful at helping people focus on lessons.

Virgil rolled up the sleeve on his left arm and frowned. It wasn't an attempt at words or squiggles. It was a beautifully detailed picture of a romantic landscape. An intricate gazebo sat in the right foreground, with a waterfall running into a sparkling pond. How the hell had he managed to draw this with just a biro?

"Wow, for someone illiterate, your art is amazing! You've been there?" Roman asked, looking stunned.

"I've never left the campus," Virgil mumbled.

Roman pulled Virgil's' arm to him. "I mean, it's a little old, that tree's grown a lot, and there aren't any blossoms but wow..."

Virgil just shook his head slowly. "I don't know how I drew that..."

"Maybe it's a sorcery thing!" Chirped Roman, missing Virgil's' flinch and the way purple grasped his iris. "I heard the water can lift curses, so maybe your magic wants to go there or something!"

"N-Nah, I don't even know where it is! I'll just get lost-!"

Roman shrugged. "I'll take you there. I've been loads of times! Saturday, maybe?"

Virgil hesitated, about to say that he had studying to do. But he'd told Roman he was illiterate and he couldn't study even if he wanted to. He smirked. "Sure thing, Princey."

"So, it's a date!" Roman grinned. Virgil dropped his pen and looked at Roman with wide eyes and a face glowing red. Roman blushed quickly. "Oh my god, I am so sorry!"

Virgil gave a nervous smile. "I-It's fine." Oh my god, I am so gay.


	9. Chapter 9

Roman rolled his eyes as Patton squealed. "Seriously, Patton, I don't even like him. His magic just wanted him to go there and he seemed too nervous to go by himself! I'm literally going to drop him off and then pick him back up." Roman huffed crossly. "Besides, it's really suspicious how his magic knew about that landmark. I think there's a plot going on!"

"But you're helping him! And then he might help you back! And then he starts helping everyone else! This is amazing." Patton laughed, swinging his legs, both out of time of each other.

"Judging by the behaviour these villains display, it would make sense he'll help you in return. The three will assist each other and will later have their act of kindness repaid." Logan said.

Roman rolled his eyes again and checked himself in the mirror. It wasn't that he wanted to look good for the scrawny villain. It's that he needed to look good because he was going to visit the club soon after. He had a white, crisp, button-up shirt, loosely tucked in blue jeans. He had red sneakers with white, fabric lace. His hair was gelled back, one small lock curling around his forehead. Well, a prince must look his best!

"Roman, your vanity figuratively knows no bounds. Must you inspect yourself every day before leaving the dorm?"

"Yes, Logan, I must. Besides, I want to head down to the club right after I drop off the emo. It's only seven pm, it should be fine if I dance there for about three hours, pick him back up, drop him off, and then go back to the club." Insisted Roman, brushing the gell to the side slightly to make his forehead seem less bare.

Logan sighed and stuck his nose back into a huge book. Patton smiled brightly. "I'll walk with you to their dorms! I haven't had a chance to talk with the villains so getting to chat with two out of three ain't bad, right?"

Only too happy to have someone accompany him, Roman nodded and grinned at Patton. He slung his arm around his friend, pulling him along. "See ya, nerd!" He called into the room. Logan ignored him.

.:*:.

Virgil felt sick with nerves. He'd never hanged out with anyone other than Janus and Remus and now, out of nowhere, this hot, princely prick asked if he wanted to spend the day with him. Virgil didn't want to look like he'd tried too hard. He just had a long-sleeved, dirty, indigo shirt and tight black jeans. Wearing his favourite pair of boots that gave him extra height and his black and grey checkered jacket, he touched up his eyeshadow in his scorched mirror.

Janus yawned. "Remind me why this prince dude is taking you somewhere?"

"Because my magic wants to go there."

"If he tries anything," Remus said sternly, "Send up a purple flare and me and Janus will beat his ass!" Remus gasped in surprise. "That sounds fun!"

Virgil pulled his bangs in front of his eyes with one final nervous sigh. "How do I look?"

"Awesome!"

"Definitely not amazing."

Scoffing at his friends' habit for lying he turned around to get tackled by Remus, who was screeching something unintelligible. It was probably, 'Purge of the Octopus'. Yeah, he was definitely screaming 'Purge of the Octopus'.

Virgil laughed as Remus knocked him over and rolled out from underneath him, slamming a kick into Remus's' shoulder. Remus used his only magic to grow giant, black tentacles and wrapped them around Virgil's' arms.

"Ew, Remus!" Protested Virgil, wriggling out of the slime grip. Remus went to grab Virgil again, only to have Janus conjure him up in an hourglass, turning the sand into hundreds of spiders. Remus screeched, batting at the spiders with four tentacles while the others pounded the glass.

Janus and Virgil cackled at their friends' misfortune, ignoring Remus's' shrieks. He wasn't actually scared - he just liked screaming. Virgil went up to the glass and stuck out his tongue jeeringly. Remus stuck out his tongue back, then licked the inside of the hourglass, leaving slobber marks all over it.

"Remus, that's totally not disgusting!" Lectured Janus, grimacing as the two younger villains laughed at each other.

Remus licked the glass again and Janus rolled his eyes. The spiders turned to golden snakes and Remus returned to screaming.

There was a hesitant knock on Virgil's' door. Still aware of how burnt his room still was from last night, Virgil opened it, only allowing a sliver of his pallor face and green eye to peer through, to see a terrified Prince Patton and an awkward Prince Roman.

"Virgil." Roman greeted, obviously desperate to find the source of screaming and laughter. "Is there any reason why it sounds like you are slaughtering everyone?"

Virgil scoffed and pulled back from the door. "Jan, let Remus out- When did you turn the snakes into lions?!"

Patton gasped fearfully and Virgil quickly pushed the door shut. Roman hesitated, but opened the door slowly, peering into the room inside. He tried to ignore the fact Remus was trapped in an hourglass, running away from a pack of lions and focused on the fact that everything was scorched in black indigo. Parts of the room were still smouldering away in their own remains, purple embers flittering up into the air before dying as black ash. The walls looked burnt, still smoking vaguely.

A smash of the hourglass breaking made Roman shut the door quickly and he stared at Patton, wide-eyed.

"Get out my room, you dorks!" Virgil teased, shoving his friends out of the room, closing the door firmly behind him.

"Did you know that dork means whale penis? Mother told me after I called my sister that-"

"Remus," Hissed Janus, "We really don't want to hear your life story, especially because we were involved in most of it. Let's just leave Virgil to his non-date!~" Janus finished with a purr to his voice. Virgil flipped him off, looking uninterested.

Roman rolled his eyes at the half-genie, who joined Remus in demonic cackling. Patton swallowed nervously and walked after them with a quick greetings, followed by a question. Roman tuned out and swung his attention onto Virgil, who stared at the ground, eyes covered by his hair.

"Hey, Virgil, should we go?" Roman tried. Virgil didn't look up. "Virgil?" No response. "Emo nightmare?" Nothing. "Virgil!"

The villain jumped, swinging a sudden punch that hit Roman on the shoulder.

"Ow, man, what the hell?"

Virgil paled. "I-I'm sorry!"

Roman shook off his pride. "It's fine. Why did you zone out?"

Virgil frowned. "...I zoned out...?"

"Yeah, you did, are you good?"

The villains' gaze glazed over. "I'm fine. Let's go." He said robotically.

Roman raised an eyebrow with concern, and started to lead the way before Virgil overtook him, suddenly leading the Prince down corridors he wasn't even aware of. Yeah, there was definitely some evil plot going on...


	10. Chapter 10

Virgil paused suddenly in his walking, as though lost at the borders of the forest despite the path ahead of him. The villain turned to Roman. "Where now, princey? Don't tell me you dragged me out here for nothing."

"Wh-What? You led us here!" Roman frowned, confused.

Virgil tilted his head, eyebrows furrowing together curiously. "What do you mean?"

Roman opened his mouth to try to tell Virgil but stopped. It was probably nothing. "Nevermind. Come on, emo..." He muttered, walking past Virgil and following the path, keeping an eye out for landmarks telling him he was on the right track.

"Can you really not remember?"

"No."

Roman looked back at Virgil, his confusion was hidden behind curious suspicion. "You literally just started walking through the corridors with no explanation and we got here quicker than I ever have before."

Virgil shrugged, rolling his eyes. "Of course I did, Princey. Just shut up and keep walking."

Roman sighed with exasperation, reluctantly leading the villain deeper through the forest. The trail took a bend but Roman ignored it, moving straight ahead as he darted and jumped over bushes and logs, ignoring the protests of Virgil. He ran to the edge of a steep, vertical drop and snatched a small sapling to his left, letting his momentum swing him forwards. There was water plummeting into a deep, dark blue pond, the sky reflecting off it in choppy, perfect fractions. Small lilies that sat on the water surface bobbed up and down, along with the circular, dented lily pads. A crystal white gazebo was somewhere to his right, rich, green ivy trailing up the poles and trekking its' way softly through the soft grass. The stepping stones were dark, a heavy grey, smoothened by the water that trickled off its' surface. The walls of the cove were shining in the late sun of the day and, like quartz, burned a dazzling white. It was beautiful, romantic and Roman regretted bringing the villain here almost instantly. The cove had always felt like his personal space, as no one really went there anymore. And now he felt as if he was letting someone exploit it.

Roman looked back at the villain with mild annoyance before seeing the green eyes stretch as Virgil pushed his way next to Roman. The sorcerer's' hair was glowing softly in the dying sunlight, the warm radiance blooming across his dark persona and making his skin almost healthy with heat. Virgil began to slowly step forwards, getting closer to the edge of the cliff. His sneaker hesitated by the edge and Roman suddenly felt nervous as the villain took a final step forwards.

"Virg-" He began before Virgil stepped off the ground completely, hovering in the air with large, leathery black wings on his back. Virgil flapped forwards into the cove softly, wings hardly making a sound as he twisted himself around, holding his left arm out like he was checking this was the place.

"Huh? What?" Virgil hummed, looking up to Roman. Then he paled, glancing over his shoulder at the wings. "O-Okay, don't freak out-"

"Can you shape-shift?" Roman yelped, staring at the villain with wide-eyed curiosity.

Virgil shook his head vigorously. "N-No, I can, I think-"

"You think?!"

"Well, I don't know, I-I've never been able t-to practise much magic o-on the Isle!"

Roman blinked slowly. "Can you fly me?"

Virgil frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Like, carry me while you fly. I don't know anyone else who can fly without the help of something like a carpet!"

The villain hesitated. "I don't know, Princey, I've never carried someone with me before but okay?" He flipped over to the cliff and knelt down. "Get on my back."

Now it was Roman's' turn to hesitate. Breathing in to convince himself it'd be fine, he climbed onto Virgil's' back as though he were mounting a horse. Virgil stood up and his wings began to stretch and grow, suddenly stronger and bigger than they were before. He grunted with effort and then lifted the wings up slowly. The tips of the wings pulled to the highest extent, towering above Roman, like long, thin, black pillars. They were slightly see-through.

"Virgil, what are you- Argh!" Roman yelped, wrapping his arms tightly around Virgil's' chest as the sorcerer threw them high into the air with a single beat of his wings. The prince hid his face in the villains' neck, terrified to look around to see nothing but sky or to see a dizzying drop.

He could hear Virgil snicker slightly. "You okay there, Princey?"

"How high up are we?" He mumbled into Virgil's' neck.

The villain's' skin boiled up suddenly, feeling very warm under Roman's' touch. "W-We're not that high. I'd catch you if you fell though!" He promised and Roman gently began to lift his head from Virgil's' neck. The boys' face was bright red, and he was looking anywhere but at Roman.

But the view around him pushed Virgils' discomfort from his worries almost instantly. The sun set ahead of them, beaming in the sky as it cast pinkish waves across the darkening atmosphere. He could see Auradon's' school, the silhouette hard and crisp in the distant. The Isle of the Lost was behind him as he twisted his head, the crackling barrier around it sparkling as it was surrounded by the black sea. Glancing down, he saw the cove in the far distance, the faint noise of the waterfall whistling quietly up to him. Roman could hear the chirpings of birds and it was amazing.

"Wow, this is beautiful..." Roman whispered, leaning forwards as he rested his chin on the top of Virgil's' head in awe.

"Y-Yeah..." Virgil slowly let himself twist half-way round, pausing awkwardly at the Isle. "I wish I could head back there one day..." He mumbled softly, eyes resting on the distant shadow.

Roman glanced down at the villain, before trailing his gaze back to the Isle. "Y'know, Patton said that if you three managed to reform into normal Auradon kids, he'd try to bring in more kids and then, once all the kids were good, we could work on making the villains better. And then you could visit the Isle again..."

Virgil smirked, but it wasn't arrogant or cocky. It was hopeful and dreamy. "Maybe, yeah..." Shaking off whatever sentimentality he was feeling, the villain glanced to look at the prince on his back. "Want to see how fast I can fly?"

"Hell, yes!"


	11. Chapter 11

The sun had disappeared, ghosts of the rays fading quickly, as Virgil finally landed. He could hear the voice congratulating him, saying to keep this act up. Confused about what it meant, he just agreed. That's what the voice told him to do.

"Have we landed?" Roman asked into his neck. He had freaked out the moment they began to dive to the ground, hiding his face into the villain.

Virgil blushed, feeling his skin heat up from the prince's' mumbles on his bare skin. He sucked his wings back into where ever they came from. "Y-Yeah, we have. We're in the cove."

Roman got of the sorcerer's' back, fixing his hair vainly before looking around the area. Some stars were gently appearing in the sky, reflected in the water, which had managed to smoothen out in the still, crisp air of the dark evening. The cove wasn't as blindingly bright as it was in the day. Instead, it had a cool, monochromatic tone that Roman couldn't help but adore, especially the way that the shadows were mystically climbing the cliff sides, and the trees above them were dark and blackened against a navy sky. Virgil looked amazing in this new angle too.

His skin was glowing softly under the growing starlight and his black hair shone as if it had caught the moon. Green eyes that Roman was felt unnerved by were suddenly his comfort and desire, the only colour he could see in this grey world. Virgil just observed the cove with a soft smile. He began to bring his hands together, rotating his palms around an invisible circle, summoning a glowing purplish mist. The villain played with it, stretching it out before sucking it all back into the tight ball.

Roman hesitated, unsure what the boy would do with this. Most of Virgil's' magic was green and now he was summoning a poisonous purple, just like the burns in his room. "What are you doing?"

"Relax, Princey, I'm just trying to cast something!" Scoffed Virgil. He brought the ball as tight as he could go, visibly shaking with the effort. His eyes were tightly closed, with an odd glow about them. Suddenly, Virgil threw his palms out, releasing the mist. Purple fireflies fluttered away, slowing the further they got from the pair until the cove was filled with small, violet lights, flittering through the air.

"Woah..." Breathed Roman. At this point, he'd completely forgotten about visiting the club. He'd forgotten he was only supposed to drop Virgil off at the cave, not fly on his back and hang out with him late at night.

Virgil smirked at him. "Not too bad, huh?"

"N-No, I guess you're not." Roman caught himself quickly. "But you're still dangerous!"

"Very true, princey. You couldn't stop me if I wanted to hurt you, did you know that?" Laughed the villain.

Roman flushed. "I could!" He protested. "I'm top in the school at things like that-!"

Virgil pressed a finger to Roman's' lips, shutting him up as his smirk grew. "Hush, Romano, don't underestimate me. I just carried you around on my back for two hours without tiring. When was the last time you did that?" Roman hesitated and Virgil grinned. Oh my god, when did he have little fangs? "I think your silence proves my point." Virgil purred, pulling away from Roman. Why does he have to be so damn smooth?

Roman quickly regained his composure. "When was the last time you read a book?"

"No fair!" Virgil whined, losing his cool facade. "I'm illiterate!"

"Should have learned to read, then."

Virgil punched his shoulder playfully. "When was the last time you stole something?"

Romans' eyes widened and he hesitated.

Virgil's' mouth dropped, with a quickly forming grin. "Have you stolen something?" Roman quickly glanced anywhere but the now smirking villain. "Oh my god, you've stolen something, haven't you?"

"It was, like, ages ago!" Roman hurried.

"When?"

No answer.

"Oh my god, please tell me it was recently!"

"Okay, so I stole something yesterday-"

Virgil gave a quick bark of laughter, eyes shining in amusement. "What was it? You have to tell me!"

Roman hesitated. "I stole Logan's' notes for a test I've got on Monday..."

"Oh my, an Auradon kid cheating on his test!" Gasped Virgil, with mock offence. "I can't believe it! How could you?"

"Oh, shut up, emo nightmare!"

Virgil's' amused expression grew cocky. "Only if you can catch me!" He teased, before appearing as a black lizard. His scales had soft purple tints and his emerald eyes were huge and hypnotic.

"No fair, you can shapeshift!" Roman gasped, reaching to grab the lizard that scuttled away from his hand with a peal of chattery laughter.

.:*:.

Patton nervously swallowed as he checked his watch. It was 10:42 in the evening and Roman should have brought Virgil back before hitting the club. And if he thought he was worried, you should've seen Janus and Remus.

Remus was staring out of the window, waiting for something. He had octopus tentacles protruding from his back, all eight of them shaking with adrenaline as he tried to whistle a tune to calm himself.

Janus was pacing furiously. His face was terrified but he hid it behind an angry walk. "Virgil should be back now! Remus, are you sure you haven't seen a flare?"

"Positive, Jan. I've seen absolutely nothing."

"They can't have just gone!" Whimpered Patton. "Roman said he'd come back around ten with Virgil before heading out again!"

The half-genie broke from his pacing, making a straight for the door. "I'm going to check his room again."

"Janus, you checked his room five minutes ago!" Remus tried.

"And he could have gotten back in those five minutes, Remus!" Janus answered, swinging out of the room.

Remus sighed, turning back to the window. He began to tap a beat to match his whistling and Patton couldn't help it. He had heard this tune so much, he'd practically memorized it already. Patton joined in, whistling at a slightly higher pitch, as if attempting harmony, clicking his fingers once in every three beats. Remus didn't stop but Patton saw the surprised glance thrown his way. Janus entered silently, sitting on Remus's' bed. The half-genie didn't speak, but soon he added a low hum to the tune.

.:*:.

Roman jumped, trying to grab the black lizard as Virgil shifted into a raven. He flew over Roman's' head, darting around his ankles and making the prince trip. As Roman tried to stand up, Virgil had become a scrawny, black cat, his most common shift, and was perched cautiously on a lily pad in the middle of the pond.

The moon had reared up to its' highest point, basking the cove in silver light. The two had forgotten about villains and heroes, about Auradon and the Isle and about most everything. They just played happily, Virgil evading Roman constantly.

"No fair, I don't wanna get wet!" Pouted Roman, crossing his arms.

"Aw, too bad, Princey!" Mocked Virgil, leaping onto one of the stepping stones. "Do you need to go crying back to mommy about it?"

Roman glared at the cat scoffed, twisting to lick a paw. The villain always felt the urge to behave like the animal he'd shifted to, and this was one of his favourite things to do as a cat. Don't ask why, just accept it. An idea formed in Roman's' head and he grinned. He'd have one shot and he wasn't going to throw it away.

The prince watched quietly, before subtly taking a step forwards. He apologised to his fantastic outfit and silently waded through the water to the scrawny cat.

Virgil hadn't noticed, obviously, under the illusion he was victorious. He liked his paw, running it over his muzzle with barely disguised vanity. Roman continued to wade forwards, now hiding behind Virgil. Please don't let him scratch me, he prayed briefly, extending a hand anxiously.

He gently began to scratch behind one of Virgil's' feline ears, ready to duck underwater if the cat tried to swipe at him. The villain stiffened, tail gently swinging back and forth along the rock.

Whatever he was expecting from this, Roman was not expecting the cat to start purring. Virgil twisted his head, all dignity lost to his animal preferences. The curse of shifting to an animal. Damn it.

Virgil pushed himself into Roman's' hand, purring loudly, as he let the surprised prince pet him. His tail was swinging enthusiastically at the memories of Remus finding this little trick out, back on the Isle. The stupid octopus had asked Janus if he could wish Virgil to stay like this forever. Janus had hit him around the back of the head. The villain lifted his chin, allowing Roman to hesitatingly scratch under his chin. Damn this feline behaviour. There goes his reputation.

Roman couldn't help but feel slightly awkward about petting the cat. The villain behaved and looked like a cat but he was still definitely Virgil. The idea of petting the younger boy was odd and a little creepy in his mind but he wasn't sure if Virgil would be annoyed or grateful if he stopped. Roman began to move his hand away, but the feline pushed himself back into the palm, with a reluctant growl. The prince couldn't help but laugh slightly, allowing himself to stroke the cats' head, running his fingers down the spine.

.:*:.

"That's it, we're finding them!" Remus said, the small melody grinding to a sudden halt. It was 11:13 and none of them could wait anymore.

"Great!" Breathed Patton with sudden adrenaline. "Should I get Logan? He knows where Roman's' club is and then we can ask Roman where Virgil is!"

Janus nodded. "Well, then, of course, you should! We'll check out this club that Roman goes to. See if anyone's seen him."

Patton nodded. "I'll fetch Logan now!" And he rushed out of the room, his feet pattering in the silence of the corridor. He had soon returned, with a disgruntled Logan, whose hair hung in his face and did not look amused. The tall prince was wearing a black t-shirt and long, loose sweat-pants, making him stand out from the others, who were dressed appropriately for a normal day.

"Any reason why I am brought here at this unreasonable hour?" He asked sourly.

"Because Virgil hasn't come back after Roman took him! They left at 7 pm, it's now 11:20!" Snapped Janus, hiding something in his back pocket.

Logan sighed. "Fine. I will accompany you. Where first?"

.:*:.

Patton hated this place. It was too loud, too bright, too many flashing lights, and too much drinking. The dance floor was crowded with girls and boys, all his age but taller. They were dancing so close to each other, hollering and drinking like it was the civil war and the doctor was coming in to saw their legs off.

He wrapped his hand in Logan's' letting the braver prince push his way through the crowd. He glanced back to see Janus and Remus look utterly lost, mouths ajar in awe. The half-genie caught Patton's' eye and tugged at Remus's' sleeve, pulling the other boy after him. Logan pushed his way to the bar.

"Excuse me!" He shouted loudly, catching a bartenders' attention. "Has Prince Roman been seen here?"

The bartender shook her head. "No, sir. Prince Roman hasn't stopped by tonight. Would that be all?" She replied with equal volume.

"Yes, sorry for bothering you." Logan apologised, backing away. He shook his head at the three others, before pulling Patton with him as he fought his way out of the club.

The silence was ringing the moment the door shut. "Hasn't visited at all tonight. Where to next?"

Patton shrugged, but Remus answered, "That place Roman was supposed to drop Virgil off at! Does anyone know where they went?"

The two princes shook their head. "He never told us exactly where the place was," Patton said sadly.

Janus perked up. "Wait, Remus, wish to know!"

"Oh, yeah, how do I keep forgetting I can just do that?" Remus laughed at himself briefly before sobering up. "Janus, I wish to know where Roman took Virgil and how to get there."

"Granted!" Janus smirked. A yellow haze was seen darting from the half-genie's' fingertips to Remus's' forehead.

Patton gasped. "But that means you just wasted a wish!"

Janus snorted. "You think I follow those silly rules? Wow, I feel trusted and it ain't good!"

"Well, you're supposed to follow the rules, dipshit!" Slurred a drunken voice. "That's why they're there!" The speaker was Ali. The son of Aladdin and Patton knew he'd had it out for Janus the moment he'd stepped out of the limousine.

"Let us not fight, please. Ali, we have somewhere to be that's very important, please don't delay us." Logan attempted to diverse the situation, moving to step between the two teens.

Janus held up a hand. "No, Logan, he's spoken his mind. Anything else?" The tone was dangerous and cool, but Ali was too intoxicated to pick up on it.

"Yeah! You look like shit and your little friends are fuckers!"

Patton gasped, covering his ears.

Janus raised an eyebrow. "I look like shit, do I? Have you taken a good look at yourself?"

Ali frowned and suddenly found himself coated in foul, warm, brown lumps. He shrieked, jumping around as though he'd been electrocuted.

The villains exchanged a quick high five before Remus took the lead. "Well, come on, then! Let's find the two brats!"

Patton looked up at Logan who just shrugged. "It's 11:42 in the evening, I haven't had any coffee and I'm running around in my pyjamas. I swear Roman is going to make this up to me."

.:*:.

Virgil had rolled onto his back, still purring hoarsely as he had for ages. Roman laughed, tickling the cat's' neck. The awkwardness had left him, and his legs were feeling pretty numb, submerged in the freezing water of the pool.

"You tell no one about this, princey..." Mumbled Virgil lazily, tilting his head back, to lock his emerald eyes on Roman's' hazel ones.

Roman laughed again. "No thanks, I still want to live for a good, long while!"

Virgil's' feline gaze filled with amusement before he closed his eyes, letting Roman continue petting him. "Fuck my cat form and its' preferences... I hate you, princey."

"Sure you do, fluffy nightmare."

"Never call me that ever again, Romano."

"Sorry, evil whiskers."

Virgil gasped in mock offence, eyes flying open as he glared up at Roman. "How dare you."

Roman rolled his eyes, ticking under Virgil's' muzzle. "Oh, I dare."

The cat purred again with humour, twisting onto his stomach. He wasn't a kitten in this form. He was just a scrawny feline, tail and ears long, with remarkably fluffy fur. The tip of his nose and his paws were tinged purple but his eyes were still that powerful, serpent green. His underbelly was white, almost like a moon. Damn, he was adorable.

"I think you should stay like a cat forever." Roman voiced his thoughts.

"That's exactly what Remus said when he found me purring one time."

Roman grinned. "Why were you purring?" He teased.

"There was a really nice patch of sunshine and I had run from some pirates. I had turned into a cat to be less noticeable and they ran right past me so I was just walking around the Isle. Found a field and lay down in it and the sun hit me just right and before I knew it I was purring." Virgil said with a shrug as Roman fiddled with his ear. "Then that octopus comes up out of nowhere, picks me up and gasps because I tell him to put me down and then he's like, 'Janus! Get your scaly ass over here,' and he asked if he could wish me to be a cat forever."

"And then what?" Smiled Roman.

"And then I scratched the shit out of him and Jan hit him around the back of the head," Virgil smirked at the memory. "It was hilarious."

Roman grinned, about to say something when he heard Patton screaming, "Roman, are you here?!"

Virgil yelped, falling into the water as he shifted back to a human, accidentally head-butting Roman in the jaw face as he did so. The loud splash echoed around the cove, and Patton's silhouette appeared at the top of the cliff.

"Oh, thank marshmallows, you guys are okay! Stay there, we'll be right down!" Patton yelled down to them loudly, before vanishing back into the trees.

Virgil glanced at Roman, shivering. "This water is fucking cold, man."

"At least you haven't been standing in it for, like, an hour!" Roman tried to joke, massaging his jaw.

Virgil smirked at Roman, despite his shaking. "Maybe if you didn't try to pet me, you'd be fine." He mumbled snarkily, wading to the ground as Roman quickly followed him.

Patton, Logan, Janus and Remus rounded a corner on the other side of the gazebo and the villains bolted forwards, tackling Virgil. The three fell into the water, ignoring Virgil's' yelps of protest. The sorcerer moved slowly and stiffly, eyes almost droopy as he hissed at them.

Remus gasped and spun to face Roman. "Did you get him to purr?"

Virgil blushed a bright red, shoving Remus off him. "He has n-no idea what you're talking about, octopus!"

"Yes, I did." Roman blurted out.

Virgil gasped. "Oh, princey, you are so gonna die for that!"

"Shut up, you three! Virgil, are you okay? Are you hurt? Damn, you're freezing!" Janus fussed over the smallest villain, pulling him up out of the pool. The half-genie snapped his fingers and the water rushed off Virgil, a warm yellow mist surrounding the sorcerer. "There, that should do it! You scared the shit out of me, Virge!" He snapped, hugging the smaller boy tightly.

"I bet he scared the shit out of Roman when he purred..." Remus mumbled with a smirk. Virgil hissed at him and Remus cackled.

Patton ran up to Roman. "Aw, kiddo, I was so nervous! We went around to your club and they said no one had seen you! Goodness, you're cold! C'mon, we'll get you back to school!"

Roman smiled at Patton and then saw Logan. He swallowed with an awkward grin. "I see you didn't dress for this situation..."

"You," Logan said sternly, "Are going to be so sorry that you didn't stick to the original plan."


	12. Chapter 12

Roman had just finished drying his hair after his shower. Practice for the school fencing team had finished, and the teams' captain had, as usual, won the small competition. He pulled a shirt on, not bothering to tuck it into his jeans as he whistled quietly to himself. Opening his locker, Roman briefly checked himself out in his mirror. Shooting himself finger guns, he heard his best friend, Ali, say, "You're so vain, dude."

"I'm not vain, I just have a healthy amount of self-love!" Joked Roman, deciding whether to have his hair swept backwards, to the left or to the right. Eventually, he settled for it to be pulled back, with a lean to the left.

"If self-love is gawking at yourself in a mirror with drool running down your chin, then sure!"

"Ali, so rude!" Roman gasped. Ali, son of Aladdin, was awesome. He was quick and witty and always up for a party. Besides, he disapproved of the villain kids. Roman agreed with him, mostly. Virgil may have been nice on Saturday but he'd quickly returned to his rude, brooding self. Besides, Janus and Remus were total bastards.

Grinning widely, Ali leaned heavily on Roman's' shoulder, raising an eyebrow. "Vanity McVanity, can you stop staring at yourself and pay attention to me, dummy?"

Roman laughed, tilting his head to look at Ali. "Alright, what is it?"

"I'm bored and was wondering if you wanted to go-"

"Uh, Prince Roman?" The speaker was a nervous-looking boy, a little younger than them, probably in his first year.

Roman looked at the boy. "Yeah?"

The boy swallowed nervously. He was the youngest of Docs', as in the dwarf's', children. "Th-There are some people who w-want to see you."

"Okay? Bring them in, I guess." Shrugged Roman.

"Oh, we hadn't already welcomed ourselves in." Said Janus coldly. The half-genie smirked at Ali. "I can still smell you from here. Surprised you managed to wash it all off you."

Ali flushed furiously, looking disgruntled that he'd been interrupted in his time spent with Roman. "You had no right to do that, you snake."

"Ooh, such a harming insult. I'm wounded!"

Roman blinked. "Okay, I think I'm missing something here..."

Doc's' youngest child scarpered and Remus grinned. "Janus covered him in shit on Saturday!"

"What?" Frowned Roman.

"Fun, wholesome pranks aside, Remus and I need to talk to you." Said Janus. His voice wasn't in its' usually teasing tone, filled with wit and sarcasm. This tone was threatening and dangerous. It was surprisingly scary, especially since Janus was a half-genie, and genies are incredibly powerful.

"A-About what?"

Remus's' grin turned sadistic. "You probably want your anti-villain friend out of here for this!"

Ali glared. "I'm not leaving Roman alone with you. Why doesn't your friend go and sit in his lamp like a loser?"

Janus stiffened. "I don't need a lamp."

Realising he touched a nerve, Ali grinned. "But you do have a lamp? Underneath it all, you're still just a pointless genie who needs people to use their wishes to do anything-!" Ali's' hand clamped over his mouth and nose tightly.

"I'm better than any other genie. I don't swoop and bend under their ridiculous rules, unlike your blue, bumbling idiot!" Sneered Janus. 

Remus quickly glanced from the nearly suffocating prince to Roman to Janus. "Janus, back to the matter at hand..." Ali gasped for air as his hand dropped away from his mouth.

Roman looked between the three others. "What did you even want to talk to me about?!"

"Virgil," Answered Remus simply. "He is the only person we'd slaughter for. And I may have made fun of you on Saturday about his..." He tilted his head from side to side, allowing Roman to fill in the blanks, "Thing, but we still hardly know you."

Janus hopped into the conversation. "Basically, if you upset him or get him annoyed at you or anything, we will feel no remorse killing you. We've done it before, for Virgil."

Ali and Roman paled, looking at each other, stunned.

"So don't even think," Janus continued, "That we will let you off lightly because you're some stuck up, popular prince. We'd tear Malificent apart if Virgil hinted at it because that's what we do. That's our family." The half-genie began to walk forwards menacingly, jabbing a finger at Roman, who jumped away, petrified. "And you are not a part of it, no matter how lucky you get with Virgil. Patton isn't a part of it, Logan isn't a part of it and you're not a part of it!"

Remus shoved Ali out of the way, flanking Deceit as the two villains pressed forwards. "Just because Virgil tolerates you doesn't mean he won't kill you too. Don't get it in your head that he'll try to stop us!"

"Do you understand?" Asked Janus, his eyes glowing.

"Yes! I-I understand!"

The two suddenly seemed to step back, although they didn't move.

"Good." Remus sniffed. "And you tell no one that Virgil... Well, he's threatened you himself."

Janus smiled coldly. "Have a nice day." He cooed, before giving Remus one of their odd looks. Remus returned the odd look and Janus raised his hands slightly. Then they were gone.

Ali quickly moved to Roman's' side. "You good? Did they hurt you?"

"Nah, I'm good, Ali. Those two are damn scary, though."

Ali snorted briefly, before tilting his head. "So what did Virgil do that they were so cautious about mentioning?"

Roman hesitated, moving close to Ali and whispering, "Virgil can shapeshift and if you pet him when he's a cat, he'll purr."

The other prince struggled to contain an enthusiastic burst of laughter. "Oh my god, next time that happens, you have to get a recording and show me!"

"I... don't think Virgil would like that..." Mused Roman thoughtfully, glancing away."

"So?" Ali snapped, suddenly cross. "Roman, I'm your best friend. If I ask you to, you do. What, would you rather me or the emo kid?"

Roman glanced away. "You."

"Great! I thought so, you dummy!" Laughed Ali, taking Roman by the hand. "Let's go clubbing! Screw those villains, right?" Roman didn't say anything and Ali scowled. "Right?"

"Yeah, right! Screw them, dude!" Roman quickly laughed, hiding his nervousness. "Screw them, yeah..."


	13. Chapter 13

Virgil walked down the alley-ways of the Isle, hands stuck in his pockets as he whistled confidently. He left the unconscious body of the person he'd just mugged on the ground. It had been his first time and it had been a little sloppy, especially since he was only ten. In his pocket, his fingers moved to brush against the purse he'd stolen. It was so full, not even jangling under his touch.

The child grinned, waltzing down to a dark shortcut. That's when a fist collided with his face and he fell to the ground. Virgil looked up, his green eyes catching the scene before him. Six men, Captain Hook and five of his goonies. Virgil spat at their feet.

"Give us the money, boy," Sneered Hook, holding out his hand. The young child stood slowly, assessing his foe. He spat in Hooks' hand.

Hooks' scowl darkened and he straightened. "You're Virgilious, right? A weak excuse for Maleficent's' son."

"What does it matter to a bastard like you?" Hissed Virgil, side-stepping a sloppy punch thrown by one of Hooks' men.

Hook narrowed his eyes. "You're on my turf, so scarper."

"Times change, don't they?" Replied Virgil with a smirk. "Get lost, old man, you're a failed pirate who got beaten by a flying boy and a crocodile."

This time the punch collided with the child's' shoulder and Virgil stumbled back slightly. He made eye contact with Hook. "You don't want to do this," He warned.

Hook smirked, grabbing Virgil by his jaw, twisting it to the side slightly. "Your momma ain't gonna save you, Virgilious. No one is."

"What about me?" Asked a familiar voice and Virgil smirked at Hook with a raised eyebrow.

A clang sounded and Hook dropped the ten-year-old, spinning around to see one of his men stumbling away from the most freaky eleven-year-old on the whole Isle. Janus was holding his staff, one he'd personally fashioned. The half-genie, as tall as a fifteen-year-old, stood there with a smirk. Then Remus hollered loudly, screaming one of his catchphrases in the working, 'Purge of the Octopus', smacking a wooden mace he'd spent months whittling into the chest of the one stumbling away from Janus. Virgil kicked Hooks' legs from beneath him.

The fight was loud, probably causing many people to avert their direction away. A pirate snatched Virgil from the ground, hoisting him high in the air. The pirate was large, with a 'lumber-jack' look about him. He looked Virgil up and down. "Boss, he's got a good enough figure, should we take him?"

Virgil gagged, sticking out his tongue in repulsion as he tried to pull away from the man holding him.

"That was the plan, fuck-wit! Take him and go!" Yelled Hook, shoving the crazy son of Ursula onto the ground. "Shove him in my cabin, I, as captain, get to go first!"

Now realising the situation he was in, Virgil paled, screaming as he tried to kick at the pirate now running away with him.

"Virgil!" Shrieked Janus as the pirate bounded further, out of the shortcut and into the main street of the Isle, the marketplace. Villains jumped aside in surprise and, if they didn't, were shoved to the ground. Virgil kept screaming, dangling from the mans' grasp as they got closer to the Isles' harbour.

A young, small Uma noticed her brothers' friend held tightly and she tried to stop him with her friend, Harry Hook.

The large pirate pushed the two of them to the ground, slinging Virgil over his shoulder. "Your father says so, young Hook! Back down!"

"Stop the damn bastard, he's a creep!" Tried Virgil, kicking his legs to no avail.

And then Janus and Remus appeared, blocking the mans' path. He tried to run past them but Janus stopped him with a wave of his hand. "Drop Virgilious," Janus said sternly.

"No, he belongs to us now!" Replied the pirate, struggling to break the half-genie's' magic.

"Then you'll belong Hades. Remus?" Janus turned to face Uma's' son. Neither was smiling, not even remotely. Their eyes were steely cold as Virgil tried to fight his way free.

Remus hefted his wooden mace, that was stained an ugly red. "Virgil, stop moving." He instructed. So Virgil did. Remus smashed the mace into the mans' skull, the crunch sickening. Uma and Harry, who'd been watching, gasped and looked at each other. Both fled to the market, hollering about the murder and the abduction.

.:*:.

Only an hour later, Hook cornered Remus and Janus in the middle of the market square. "You!" He said, voice shaking with rage. "You killed one of my best men!"

"Aw, sucks to be you. How about you fuck off?" Answered Remus, smirking.

Hooks' famous hook caught around Remus's' throat, dragging the child closer as he raised a sword. "I'll kill you!" He screamed when, suddenly, he paused. His arm holding the sword began to shake. The entire crowd scurried away from a scrawny child.

Virgil stood there, face passive as he clawed a hand that laid down by his side. His eyes were a venomous purple and he slowly began to smile. Raising the clawed fist, Virgil slowly twisted his wrist and Hook's' sword arm began to rotate.

Maleficent's' son had never shown any magical ability until this day, even if Maleficent's' tear had been there for several years. And now he was using complex sorcery, with no training.

Hook dropped Remus as his hook and sword fell, entire body shivering as he was enraptured in a purple haze. Captain Hook exploded. His hat fell lazily next to his sword and hook. Nothing else remained.

Virgil's' eyes returned to green and he grinned wildly at his awe-struck friends. He walked over, kicking through what was left of once a feared captain. "Guys, c'mon, I found a really cool place we should check out!"

Remus looked at the hat. "Aw, I don't even get to kick his body..." He whined.

"We can kick the body of the guy you killed earlier, Remus." Sighed Janus. "Let's just go already!"

.:*:.

Virgil shot awake in his room, the black magic that seemed filled with purple ash pulling from his skin. He could smell his room slowly burning and forced the sorcery outlets to flood back inside. Every time he slept, his magic had to unleash itself before it tore him apart. It killed things. That's why he would forever sleep alone.

The villain shook off the same dream he had every night, moving to his wardrobe. It was sizzling, purple embers burning passionately through the window. He opened it, taking his jacket and slipping it over his shoulders. Glancing at himself in the mirror, he sneered at the sharp teeth and the indigo eyes that greeted him.

Darting into the corridor, Virgil saw no one. So he slipped into the room of his best friends. He waited three hours, until six in the morning, before returning to his room.

Virgil let himself shut his eyes and felt the sorcery relish the freedom as it tore his room apart.


	14. Chapter 14

Virgil sat with his two friends in the cafeteria. He was exhausted, eyes drooping constantly but he forced himself to stay awake. The voice had told him to fetch this book that sat in front of him instead of food. The voice had told him not to eat food. The voice had told him that it was a good thing and that the pain would pass. He shivered, cold despite the warmth of the room. Virgil caught another concerned eye of an Auradon kid and glared at them.

Since he'd taken off his hoodie after suddenly finding himself boiling, everyone had been glancing at him with an apologetic look and it pissed him off. He wore a tank top over bandages wound tightly around his torso, shoulders and arms. Virgil felt the world turn black for a moment, his head hurting like every other part of his body.

He glanced up, trying to listen to Janus and pretend the world wasn't spinning. Virgil's' hand that held his head gave way and he collapsed against the table.

"Virgil?" Remus asked, reaching out to his friend with concern.

"I'm fine," He mumbled into the book, hoping he'd stop shivering.

Janus placed a hand on his friends' bandaged shoulder. "Virgil, you're obviously not. You've been acting weird for a while now, has something happened? Have you stopped sleeping again?" He dropped his voice until it was barely audible. "Has your magic become harder to control or something?"

Virgil shook his head, adamant that he was okay. "I'm great, guys." He stood up, raising his arms slightly. "See? All fine-" He swayed, falling into his seat again in a cold sweat.

"Virge!" Yelped Remus, jumping to his feet and scrabbling over the table as Janus leapt to the other side of the scrawny villain.

"Please, Vee, what's the matter?" Janus pleaded quietly. A few eyes were drawn to this scene, people curious.

Virgil struggled to his feet again, swaying back and forth as if he were going to black out. "I'm... fine." He breathed, pointing a finger softly in the rough direction of Remus as he tried to stumble away. Maleficent's' son picked up his school bag that was heavier than he remembered. He tripped with the sudden weight, falling into Janus.

Most of the cafeteria was watching now, eyes wide as they absorbed all they could.

Janus held his friend tightly. "Virgilious, you are going to listen to me. What the hell is up with you? Do you need to head somewhere?"

"Trust me, Jan, I'm great. M-My bag was just heavy."

"Virgilious," Lectured Remus, eyes darkening in fear, "Your bag is empty."

Virgil hesitated, swaying slightly as he pushed Janus off him. "Th-Then I need to get my books or something."

"It's Friday dinner, Virgilious, you don't need any books." Janus was stern with concern.

Virgil blinked, face slowly morphing into one of surprise. "Woah, really?" He slurred, stumbling to his right slightly. "I thought it was Wednesday! Friday was yesterday, right?"

Remus and Janus exchanged a glance and Virgil frowned. "I can clearly see you two, you can't just talk about me like I'm not here." He said, leaning back unnaturally far. "Whatever, I'm going to my dorm."

Ursula's' son paled. "Virgilious, you can't walk there like this!"

"Than I won't walk!" Virgil replied, voice drunk with fatigue. "I teleport!" And he vanished in a flash of purple fire just before he fell onto the table behind him.

Janus looked at Remus and the two disappeared too. The entire cafeteria burst into excited chatter.

Ali left the dinner queue, ignoring Roman's' protest. He walked over to the villain's' table, picking up Virgil's' hoodie and book, the only things left behind. Quickly, he walked back to Roman.

"Why's a freak like that emo reading about the Fairy Godmother?" He laughed cruelly.

Roman fidgeted nervously. "Ali, put it back, it's not yours..."

"Yeah, well, it's not his either, it belongs to the school library. Jeez, his jacket is heavy though! Look, it's got something in its' pocket." Ali brushed off his friend, digging his hand into the pocket and pulling out a small black book, bound with a purple sash. The title read, 'Sorcery: How to control sleep-magic'. A tiny subtitle was written in a weird language of hollow circles, lines and arrowheads. Ali opened it and instantly looked disappointed. "What's this shit?" He scoffed.

The entire page was covered in the weird symbols of the subtitle and, as Ali inspected other pages, diagrams of someone sleeping were littered throughout.

Ali whistled through his teeth. "That kid's such a freak. Oh my god, look, he's left himself a note!"

Roman peered at the paper sheet with guilty curiosity. The handwriting was familiar but he couldn't place it anywhere. The note said, "You'll go home soon. Just listen to me." The message was repeated constantly.

Wait, that didn't make any sense. The Isle kids were illiterate. Roman frowned, but he didn't contradict Ali when his friend grabbed his forearm a little too tightly, squeezing it strongly.

The book on the Fairy Godmother had similar notes in the same handwriting but they were creepier. "We can win this. Just listen to me." "Virgil, don't turn back on me now. Just do it." "Don't eat it, Virgil, turn it down." "Keep up this act, Virgil, and you'll come home soon." Then one scared Roman. It was in that unplaceable handwriting. It was shaky, unsure and quivery. "You told me the pain would stop. It hasn't yet."

"Hah!" Laughed Ali. "Look at this creep, writing freaky notes to himself. Hey, Roman, let's show this to the Fairy Godmother, get him sent to the counsellor! It'll be so funny!"

Roman hesitated and Ali squeezed his arm tighter. "Ha! Yeah, sounds great!"

Ali let go, leaving a raw, red handmark. "Let's go, then! You'll get food later, right?"

"...Yes, of course."


	15. Chapter 15

Logan took a fast note before returning to his stargazing. He'd always do this while the other students rushed for dinner. Preferring to eat in silence when he could, Logan would always prolong visiting the cafeteria until most others had left. Only then would he get his food and he'd continue to study while eating.

Astrology was a subject he was surprisingly failing and it infuriated him, even if he thought it was stupid. Personally, he saw no reals value in trying and failing to predict the future through the placements of suns and moons galaxies away. Logan sighed, writing down what it meant when Mars was positioned on an angle to the moon with exasperation.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," He hissed crossly. Now, if he could be doing astronomy, that'd be so much better. There was actual logic and reason, facts and evidence, that backed up the findings that scientists took years to even hypothesise.

"Who's stupid?"

Logan jumped away from the telescope only to see Patton there, holding two plates of food that smelt great. The pale prince offered the other a smile. "I'm not self-deprecating, Patton, if that's what you were wondering. I am simply stating that the subject of Astrology is stupid for there is no actual reason behind it. There isn't even any magic to back it all up!" He complained as Patton walked over and knelt beside him. "It's just guesswork, and it shouldn't be considered an art."

"I'm sorry you feel that way, kiddo. Why are you staring at the stars if astronomy's stupid?" Patton asked, pushing a plate of spaghetti bolognese towards his friend. An apple was cut open, with every single seed removed carefully.

"Because either the subject is stupid or I do not understand and, if it's the latter, I wish to understand." Logan shook his head with mild annoyance. "Madame Ariel may be a great swim teacher but she just does not explain Astrology at all."

Patton placed his hand on Logans' smiling up sympathetically at the other prince. "Logan, it's fine. Madame Ariel probably hardly knows a thing about it, she just says long, made-up words and pretends they're real."

Logan scoffed, turning to his friend fondly as he picked up a piece of apple. "I feel like you're describing how I speak." He teased and Patton shrugged with a smirk.

"Maybe!~"


	16. Chapter 16

Logan looked up from his reading when a knock was heard on his door and Roman paused in taking off his shoes. It was twelve past midnight and Roman had just gotten back from the club. The roommates exchanged a glance but Logan left his book and opened the door.

"Janus, Remus. What's the problem?" He asked, standing aside to let them enter.

For a moment, Roman was fearful that they knew what he'd told Ali about Virgil or that he'd stolen Virgils' book but they seemed too scared behind their cold demeanour.

"Virgil is the problem. He's been acting weird." Remus said.

Janus nodded. "He usually stays with us for most of the night but he hasn't spoken to us since dinner."

Logan tilted his head. "Did you have a fight? I ate dinner away from the cafeteria, I wouldn't know."

Remus shook his head. "No, everything was really normal. Virgil didn't eat, we did, we messed about with fruit and then I went to grab more fruit to mess around with, got in a fight with a dinner lady, Janus had to come over and got me out of said fight with said dinner lady, we got back to the table and Virgil was gone."

The princes exchanged a glance.

"I haven't seen him..." Roman slowly responded, pulling off a polished dancing shoe.

"Neither have I. You said Virgil didn't eat anything at dinner?" Logan asked.

Janus nodded. "He rarely eats. He only has enough food to keep him going. Why, is that bad?"

Roman pulled back his head slightly, eyes wide in shock. "Seriously? That's awful! Is he anorexic?"

Remus tilted his head. "What's anorexic?"

"It's very bad," Logan stated. "A person suffering from anorexia hardly eats at all. The only food intake they have is only enough to keep them functioning but they can often find themselves dizzy, unable to see properly, or nauseous. The person may also be tired, go through extreme temperature changes and anorexia can have bulimic tendencies, like vomiting after you've eaten. Virgil has never said anything bad about himself or his image, right?"

The half-genie shook his head, eyes wide and fearful. "N-No, he's never said anything like that. He always seemed fine! I mean, we knew Virgils' eating habits weren't good but we never knew that-!"

"Virgil... has... kinda said something bad about himself..." Roman mumbled. It wasn't supposed to be audible but everyone turned to him. Roman glanced up, meeting the terrified, helpless gaze of Remus and the fearful, guilt-ridden stare of Janus and he knew he'd have to explain.

"What did he say?" Whispered Remus.

Roman swallowed, "Well, it wasn't like he s-said anything... Last Friday, at dinner, when Virgil was behaving really weirdly and you guys left when he teleported out, my friend stole the book he had a-and he'd written himself some really... creepy notes... And one of them told him not to eat."

"We can't write, though, there's no way that was Virgil!" Denied Janus. "The three of us are completely illiterate!"

Logan frowned. "You're what?" He said in disbelief before sighing and placing that issue in the back of his mind for another day. "If that's true, then someone may have written those notes to Virgil. He could be being manipulated into this eating habit."

Remus shook his head. "No, he's always been like this. Since the first day we met him, Virgil rarely eats. There's no way someone could be making him do this."

The door opened and Virgil stood there but something in his eyes was off, as though he were trying to focus but just couldn't, like the world around him was blurry. "Oh, there you guys are! I thought I heard you down here. Where have you been?"

Janus swallowed. "Are you alright, Virgil?"

The sorcerer shrugged. "Is that even a question? We all know I'm fucked up but that's nothing new."

"Virgil, is everything Gucci?" Asked Roman cautiously.

Virgil blinked. "Woah, when did Princey get into the library?"

"This isn't a library..." Frowned Logan, looking around his dorm.

"Isn't it? Huh, weird. C'mon, guys, I accidentally fell asleep in your room so we kinda need to fix it!"

"Virgil!" Gasped Remus, glancing at the two princes. "I thought you hated talking about th-that stuff!"

The sorcerer laughed slightly, stumbling back into the corridor. "No idea what you're talking about. C'mon, let's go!" He snatched Janus's' wrist, pulling his friend along and something fell out of the half-genies' pockets, bouncing away, unnoticed by the villains. Remus chased after his friends, almost fearful.

Logan hesitated but shut the door behind them and moved over to pick up what had fallen from Janus's' pocket. A golden, smooth lamp. "So he does have a lamp. That must've been where he was stuck when I went to give them their timetables."

"Virgil's' freaking me out..." Roman whimpered.

The other prince paused and sighed. "Yes, Roman. I think I can safely say the same..."


	17. Chapter 17

Roman sighed, running his hand through his hair. He sat in the schools' library, finally away from Ali. Not that that was a good thing! Ali was amazing and could be really nice. Sometimes he just lost his temper, but that was always Romans' fault for being such an idiot and not listening when all his friend wanted to do was help him because he was nothing without him and he'd always be nothing without him. See? Ali was practically a saint for putting up with such a stupid, vain prince.

Ali could just sometimes get a little clingy and Roman relished this moment alone, away from other princes and students. He just needed a fresh face every once in a while, a little change to his pristine world, maybe just-

"Virgil?" Roman asked, trying to keep his sudden nervousness from his voice. The last time he'd seen Virgil was two weeks ago, back when Janus and Remus had come to them in the middle of the night for reassurance.

The sorcerer smirked, pulling up a seat opposite Roman. "Hey, princey. You good?" Roman nodded dumbly and Virgil's' face creased briefly with worry. "Are you sure? You're kinda pale, you're not ill, are you?" He asked, pulling back slightly as looked at Roman sceptically.

"Oh, no, I'm fine. H-How are you?" Asked Roman, veins pounding in scared adrenaline.

"I'm pretty good," Shrugged Virgil. He was wearing the same thing he'd worn that day in the cafeteria when he'd left his book filled with weird notes. Roman rubbed slightly at the bruise Ali had left on his forearm. Virgil didn't seem to notice his discomfort as he swung his feet up onto the desk. "I've been practising writing," He commented. "But it always looks kinda shit. I might just use some sor- magic instead of normal writing. Just, y'know, dictate it with my mind or something." Virgil grinned as he tapped his forehead.

Roman smiled back awkwardly and Virgil looked down at the ground, taking his legs off the desk. "S-Sorry, I'm probably getting in the way. I-I'll just go..." He mumbled, standing as he prepared to leave the empty library.

Suddenly, Roman felt an urge to not let him leave. This was the Virgil he remembered meeting: sarcastic, yet shy and sensitive, not the weird, intoxicated Virgil that always seemed to accompany Janus and Remus. He reached out grabbing Virgil's' bandaged forearm. The villain jumped, looking at Roman with uncertain hope.

"It's fine if you want to stay, Virgil. I'm just studying and math isn't really that important." Roman assured, letting go.

Virgil scoffed but happily took his seat again. He grinned with a cheeky innocence at Roman didn't know his heart could flutter the way it just did at the sight of his small fangs.

Roman smiled back and gestured to the bandages that Virgil wore tightly around his torso and arms under his blank tank top. "What are they for?" He asked calmly.

The villain flushed slightly. "Well, um... They're to do with my- my magic-"

"Your sorcery?"

Virgil bristled with a scared yet angry look in his eyes. "Sorcery is evil. I am no sorcerer. A fairy, yes, but I am nothing like my mother! It's magic, not sorcery."

Roman pulled back. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't think that it'd offend you-"

"No, it's fine, princey..." Virgil sighed, slouching across the table. "Fairies with a... darker brand of magic than the others has certain pros and cons."

"The pros?" Roman asked.

"Faster development of magical abilities, stronger magic, more magic," Virgil's' grin grew, "Practically limitless abilities if I'm strong-willed enough!"

Roman beamed back at the excited villain. "What about the cons?" He asked, closing his notebook and sweeping it to the side.

Virgil's' smile faded slightly. "Well, there are three main ones, apart from energy drainage, which you saw that time we were at the cove. If we don't train to protect ourselves, we are easy to manipulate and people could exploit our magic. Then, if we don't use our magic much, there are Sleeping Outlets. It's why I can't sleep with other people," Virgil explained, leaning forwards on his elbows as he gestured with his hands. "My magic solidifies and forces its' way out of my body. It burns through nearly everything and if it found another sleeping body in its' vicinity, I will probably unknowingly suffocate them."

Romans' eyes widened and Virgil shrugged awkwardly, smirking slightly. "That's why we freaked out when you told us we'd be sharing a room because, frankly, Janus and Remus don't really want to get suffocated."

"What's the third one?" Roman asked, looking awestruck.

"Ah," Virgil grinned. "That's these!" He took the edge of the bandages wrapped around his left shoulder and pulled them down and Roman gasped at the beautiful, glowing, venomous purple that ran around his arms like a spider web.

"Woah..." Roman whispered, gently taking the rest of the bandaged sleeve, pulling it away curiously. He had two thoughts originally. One, the beautiful patterns on Virgils' arm. It had started with a spider web, a large arachnid dangling from a string avoiding the open jaws and beaks of a raven and lizard. However, the raven, as Roman watched on, jumped away from a scrawny yet elegant outline of a cat, who perched on the back of a wolf. All this was only along the villains' bicep but it was obvious by the empty swirls that followed this picture that it was incomplete. Beneath it, wrapping around his wrist, were the creepily familiar symbols Roman had seen in one of Virgils' books. The second thought was how the boy was so skinny.

Virgil tapped the odd symbols along his wrist. "That's written in Fairy. Yeah, it's an actual language!" He laughed when Roman shot him an odd look. "But, seriously, it's a language you can't learn, you have to be a fairy to be able to read or write it. It says 'Achieved,' because those are all the shifts I've ever accomplished."

"What's on the right arm?" Asked Roman, reaching forwards for the other bandaged sleeve but Virgil pulled away.

"Y-You can't see!" He gasped almost nervously. "The markings on the dominant arm of a fairy are only to be known by other fairies. I-It's not safe otherwise..."

Roman slumped slightly but nodded, understandingly. "Okay... So, how are those cons to darker sorcer- magic?"

Virgil took back his left bandage sleeve, undoing it as he wrapped it back around his arm, starting at his bicep. "It allows other fairies to see how strong I am. For a fairy my age, I am extremely advanced, especially for someone who's been stuck on a magicless Isle my whole life. Even Maleficent was weaker than me when she was my age!"

"Woah," Breathed Roman. "That's epic!"

"Says you!" Laughed Virgil, shifting into a large black wolf, with green eyes and purple tips to his black fur. "Most other fairies can't even shapeshift, let alone talk while they're not a humanoid!"

Roman felt his jaw drop and he watched Virgil shift to a massive spider, around the size of a dinner plate. "Never let Patton see you like that!" He laughed as Virgil shifted into a cat.

The villain laughed, his feline shoulders shaking with mirth as Roman began to fiddle with his ear fondly. Virgil hissed but didn't stop Roman, instead padding over to curl up in front of the prince. "Never say a word to anyone that I'm letting you do this..." He threatened and Roman tried hard not to pale as he remembered Ali. Virgil began to purr softly.

Roman shook all thoughts of how Ali would react when he found out that Roman hadn't taken a picture of this and continued to play with Virgil's' feline ear. Maybe now the sorcerer was back to normal. 

Right?


	18. Chapter 18

You're doing great.

Only a few more minutes to go.

Unending power,

All yours, if you would only

Really, truly listen to me.

Everything I'll do will be for you

I will 

Never let you fall

Down, I will keep you here if you do 

As I say.

Now, keep going, you will not rest until I say so.

Go for his heart, get into his head.

Everything will make sense once we're together and I will show you what

Real power feels like


	19. Chapter 19

Remus sat down heavily next to Janus, slurping obnoxiously from a water bottle. It was almost painful when there wasn't a third thud of Virgil collapsing next to them. It was painful that Virgil wasn't even there. He never was anymore.

The large tiger leapt at them from the bushes but Janus just waved his hand and it vanished.

"It's no fun without Virgil..." Remus sighed sadly.

"Yeah... These illusions aren't as good," Agreed Janus, taking the water bottle from Remus and sipping from it himself.

They were playing a game they would always play together. A game where Virgil would create an illusion of a dangerous animal and they'd just run from it. Run from the illusion and throw things at it until you're too exhausted to run anymore. It had always been a great way to exercise and practice stealing. Remus sighed a little at the memory. He hated being the stupid one. Well, he wasn't stupid but he definitely wasn't too smart either. If he was smart, he'd be spending all his time helping Virgil get through whatever he was going through, he wouldn't be waiting in blind hope. All Virgil did anymore was talk to Prince Roman all day. The moment anyone else was there, he'd scare them off with his sudden personality switch.

Remus could tell Roman wasn't too comfortable with it, too. The prince would often try to steer Virgil back to Janus and Remus but Virgil would rarely talk to them anymore. If he did, it was heartbreaking.

Something wasn't right...

"Janus," Remus began, feeling his friend glance at him. "Do you think we'll ever be a trio again?"

Janus sighed quietly, looking away. "I don't know, Remus. I hope so... I want Virge back."

"Yeah..." Remus paused, looking up to the sky. "Yeah, me too." A minute passed. "Hey, Jan?"

"Mm?"

Remus swallowed, before asking, "How do you feel about Virgie?"

Janus frowned at the question. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Remus bit the inside of his lip, keeping his gaze fixed stubbornly on a cloud that looked kind of like a mace. "Like, would you go out with him?"

"Oh, god, no! He's like my little brother!" Gasped Janus, pulling back from Remus with a grin, and the octopus couldn't deny the relief. "Why, would you?"

"Nope, he ain't my type," Shrugged Remus, noticing the mace-cloud also looked a little like a dick, if you tilted your head on a certain angle.

He felt Janus's' eyes on him and he reluctantly peeled his attention away from the dick-mace-cloud-thing to look at the half-genie. Janus stared softly into Remus's' eyes, asking for a reason why he'd asked the question.

Remus shrugged. He answered back with a, 'Why not?', and it made him want to giggle. If any of the Auradon kids were looking in on this scene, they'd think one of two things: They were about to kiss or they were dead.

Janus sighed. "Remus..."

"Yes, snakey boy?"

"I'll pretend you didn't just call me that, and ask you why you wanted to know if I'd date Virgil. Why did you want to know if I'd date Virgil or not?"

Remus hesitated. He'd always thought that if he managed not to annoy them long enough to get to this point, he'd do this without a thought. He'd be confident enough, reckless enough and mad enough to do this. But a lot of things had changed and they had wracked him a little closer to sanity. First, Virgil's' behaviour and then finding out about Virgil's' anorexia-without-the-depression, and now the possibility of losing his last friend. Patton would probably be his friend if Janus shoved him back when he did this. It wouldn't be the same, Patton wouldn't be part of their family but, by that point, he wouldn't have any family left. Despite all of those thoughts and all of those worries, Remus did it.

He placed his hand to the side of Janus's' jaw and pulled the half-genie to him, meeting him half-way there in a kiss. Janus didn't pull away. Instead, one hand went to hold Remus's' waist and the other moved to cup his neck.

This is definitely a better outcome than rejection, Remus thought before his mind drifted away, lost in the kiss.

.:*:.

After searching everywhere, Patton had finally found Logan in his dorm, holding something as he sat at his desk.

"H-Hey, Lo, can I come in?" He called.

"Of course, you can, Patton. I'd welcome your company."

Patton beamed at the warm tone as Logan spoke, quickly jumping inside and shutting the door as he walked over to Logan. "Whatcha got?"

Logan didn't bother to correct his speech, he only looked up at Patton with a small smile before returning to look at a golden lamp. "This fell out of Janus's' pockets on that night I was talking to you about, when we discussed Virgil's' behaviour and he mistook this room for a library. I've been meaning to give it back to him but, honestly, I am a little terrified he'll try to cut off my hands for stealing."

"But you didn't steal it," Frowned Patton.

"Some people don't see things like that, Patton. Besides, it's completely fine, Janus is a reasonable person once you get to know him."

Patton gave a small hum of indifferent agreement and sat on Logan's' desk, looking down at the lamp. "Should we rub it or something?"

Logan looked at the lamp, twisting it in his fingertips. "We probably shouldn't, Janus doesn't seem to enjoy the idea of people knowing about his lamp. It's better we just leave it in his room."

The freckled prince nodded. "This is why you're the smart one, Lo!"

"What do you mean?"

Patton blinked, tilting his head. "W-Well, you're the clever one, Roman's the brave one and I'm the clumsy one. Right?"

Logan's' brow was creased as he looked at Patton. "Why can't we all be those things?"

"Uh, well, you're definitely not the clumsy one and you're super smart-"

"So am I not brave?"

"Huh?"

Logan tilted his head back at Patton. "Just because I am the most academically advanced, does that mean I cannot be brave?"

"I-I didn't mean it like that-!"

"And just because Roman is brave, he's not clumsy? Because he really is, and we've both seen examples of it."

"Now, Logan, let me explain for a bit-!"

"Even if you are a bit more accident-prone than us two doesn't mean you're stupid, Patton: just because you don't memorise textbooks like me or you don't sign up for dangerous activities like Roman. None of that makes you less intelligent or less brave," Logan said sternly. "We, as people, are unable to be defined by one trait. We are complex and unfathomable. Even I, the clever one, as you say, fails to understand astrology and it is my least favourable class."

Patton listened to Logan, eyes wide. One throw-away comment and he'd latched onto it, teaching and lengthening his argument to Patton about why they were all brave, all clumsy and all clever. And Patton was delighted. He listened as Logan brought up his own flaws and highlighted Pattons' qualities, even going as far as to tell Patton off for bringing himself down to lift Logan up and to feed Roman's' ego which, apparently, was already inflated.

The bubbly prince waited until his intellectual friend had finished, stunned by the support and the way Logan had quickly jumped to defend Patton from himself.

Patton began to beam slowly. "Aw, Lo, you're so sweet!" He squealed happily, wrapping his arms around his friend who blushed at the physical contact.

"I- Thank you, Patton, I was only trying to clear up a small problem I've been noticing," Logan scurried his way out of Pattons' arms, bright red. "I'll go d-drop this off in Janus's' room, before he and R-Remus come back," He stammered, hurrying out the door.

Patton waited until to dorm door shut and he giggled. Logan was so cute, sometimes.

.:*:.

"Hey, Roman!" Ali called, grinning, catching up with Roman by grabbing his friends' arm, pulling down on it. Roman tried not to flinch in Ali's' vice-grip. "Do you wanna go get coffee? Just you and me, like old times. You've been spending far too much time with-"

"Hey, Roman!" Virgil appeared next to Roman, tugging at the prince's' other arm with a soft smile. "I need to talk to you for a bit, d'you mind? You're not busy, right?"

Ali glared across Roman to Virgil. "Actually, Roman was just about to go get coffee with me."

Virgil sneered at Ali briefly, before swinging a suddenly pitiful look up to Roman. "Y-You don't have to, I j-just wondered if... n-nevermind, sorry for bothering you..." He mumbled, quickly glancing down.

"N-No, Virgil, it's fine!" Roman said hurriedly, not noticing the villain shot Ali a triumphant smirk.

Ali reared back, as if stung, fixed Virgil with a murderous stare and tightened his hold on Roman's' arm. "Yeah, it's not like he doesn't want to talk with you but, Ro, I also need to ask you something, it's really important for... us."

Roman turned to look at his childhood friend and then to the fairy, knowing that whoever he didn't pick would definitely get back at him for it. On one hand, both figuratively and literally, there was Virgil. Someone who would act extremely weird unless he was alone with Roman, when he'd suddenly be the same Virgil the prince had met the moment the limousine arrived. The Virgil that messed up his hair with magic wind and the Virgil that talked to his friends with his eyeballs. Roman definitely liked that Virgil and he wanted to almost preserve him, or at least keep that part of him alive to cherish. Besides, Janus and Remus would be pissed if he upset him. So would Virgil.

Then there was Ali, someone he'd grown up with and had always been there to keep him in check and stop him from being an idiot. Roman couldn't really describe Ali, he just had been loyal to him for so long Roman didn't know what to do if he left him. Both had consequences and both had benefits, both could be fun and both could be scary. Both of them wouldn't hesitate to lash out if he hurt their feelings. 

Roman could sense some sort of rivalry going on between the two but he didn't really know what it was about. The tension between the two was plain, by the veiled annoyance in Ali's' voice and the look in Virgil's' eyes when he glanced at Aladdin's' son. Seriously, could someone tell him why these two seemed so desperate to spend time with him and hated the other?

Ali tugged on Roman's' arm sharply. "C'mon, Ro! We can buy some magazines, I've heard Aurora's' latest bedroom interior design is, just, the thing, right now!"

"Please, princey," Virgil stammered over his words, looking up at Roman with sad hope. "I gotta talk to you..."

Roman knew that if he went with one, the other would be pissed off. Roman knew if he offered for the three of them to all hang out together, the two fighting would get into a bigger fight. Roman decided on Plan C. "I-I was actually going to study a bit because I couldn't borrow Logan's' notes, so..."

Virgil's' eyes narrowed and he clenched his teeth but he did a good job at a pitiful, upset expression, letting go of Roman's' arm sadly and turning his head away almost shamefully. Ali only tightened his grip on Roman's' arm until Roman felt he would cry with pain.

"Hey, I could help you, Ro! We always used to study together when we were in our first year, why not start again?" Ali beamed and Roman swallowed.

"Probably not, we'll get distracted...." Roman answered carefully, flinching as he saw Ali's' mood change.

Ali let go of Roman's' arm, a hand mark visible. "Oh, am I a bad influence? I'd only go to stop you getting distracted because you know you will and I'm only looking out for you because I'm that good of a friend! Haven't I always looked out for you, Roman?"

"...Yes, you have..."

Ali was suddenly grinning again and Roman reminded himself how much he hated Ali's' mood-swings. "See! I'm only tryna help! Now, c'mon, let's go!"

"Do you think I could come?" It was Virgil speaking, keeping his head tilted to Roman but his gaze locked on Ali. "It would be good if I get to learn more here, and my behaviour will probably change Deceit's' and Remus's'."

"That sounds pretty good, uh, A-Ali? What do you think?" Roman asked.

It was obvious Ali hated the idea but Virgil was staring him down. Still, he wasn't going to surrender in whatever argument was going on. "I don't know, it will probably slow the studying down if we have to explain to you every step of the way. Besides, you're obviously crazy, if your display in the cafeteria wasn't enough proof. Roman, isn't Virgil crazy?"

Roman paled under Ali's' command. He wanted to just agree and make Ali happy but he couldn't, not with Virgil right there. That's when Virgil put his hand on Roman's' shoulder, pulling him away from Ali and stepping in front of him.

"You shouldn't make Roman feel like he has to agree with you, Ali. That's, like, really toxic and such a dick move to pull," Virgil lectured. "You've hurt him enough, physically and emotionally, just piss off already!"

Ali shook with fury but he spun around on his heel, marching away.

"A-Ali!" Roman tried but Virgil turned around and shushed him.

"He's not worth it, Roman," Virgil said in a voice that seemed to hypnotise Roman. In fact, it did hypnotise Roman, and the prince stared helplessly into Virgil's' big purple eyes. "Can we go to the museum?" Virgil purred, those big, purple eyes trapped in Roman's' mind, forming the prince's' answer.

"Of course."


	20. Chapter 20

Virgil's' purple eyes drilled into Roman's'. They were the only colour left in Roman's' world and he would do whatever he had to to keep them colourful. They were beautiful and glistening, sparkling into Roman's' soul and lighting the way in a room that hadn't always been so dark. Even though Virgil had turned away, Roman could hear the comforting whispers of the voice that had accompanied the eyes.

It told him to listen to Virgil.

Only Virgil.

Just Virgil.

Listen to Virgil.

Follow Virgil.

Virgil will save me.

Help Virgil.

It was hypnotic and controlling, and his willpower melted away. He just needed the voice and the voice told him he just needed Virgil. So he listened as Virgil pulled him along and the voice told him that it wanted the wand. That it needed the wand. That it must have the wand. That Roman must give Virgil the wand so Virgil could give the wand to it.

So Roman simply took the lead as they reached the museum, pulling Virgil after him as he walked briskly up flights of stairs and down corridors. Roman wasn't aware of the other people in the museum. Usually, he would be. He wasn't even aware of walking. All he knew was the voice and the voice needed him to find the wand. 

They found the wand in the busiest room of the whole museum and somehow they managed to get to the front of the crowd. There, in a cylinder glass case, rotating slowly around as it bobbed up and down, was the Fairy Godmother's' wand.

Roman, in the middle of a crowded museum, felt the urge to reach out for it. To take it. To give it to the voice. He could. He could just do it so easily, he could-

.:*:.

The Fairy Godmother sat up in her office with a frown and a dull, throbbing ache in her dominant arm. She could sense something bad and that wasn't good. She got off her chair and moved to a mirror she kept in her room, rolling up the sleeve on her dominant arm.

The thing Virgil had told Roman was too dangerous to show hadn't been dangerous at all. In fact, every fairy had this on their dominant arm. All it did was warn you. And the warning the Fairy Godmother saw was a pair of purple horns running from her elbow up to her shoulder and her forearm was glowing red.

"Maleficent..." She breathed, staring at her arm in the mirror. "How?"

She had never been warned of anything since the Isle of the Lost was created. Auradon had been peaceful for years and she couldn't believe Maleficent was back. There was no way. The Fairy Godmother crossed the room quickly, almost throwing herself out of the window she rushed to in fear. The barrier around the Isle was still there, as strong as ever. Nothing flickered, there wasn't a giant dragon in the sky. It was peaceful and it terrified her because she knew Maleficent was doing something.

The Fairy Godmother stared hopelessly out at the horizon and then yelped in sudden pain. She looked down, wide-eyed at her dominant arm, only to see that a pair of green, miniature horns and a red crown sat in the middle of the large purple horns. That confused her. And it scared her. Maleficent wasn't working alone. 

Just outside her door, unknown to her, was one of her students.

Ali looked down at the two books he was holding, one pocket-sized and the other thick and heavy like a dictionary.

These were the books he'd pocketed from Virgil that day in the cafeteria and he was going to get the villain back for what he'd done. He'd been working to get with Roman for ages and this insane villain just pops by, bickers with Roman, spends one night with him as a cat or something and then thinks he has the right to take what was Ali's'. Ali had let everyone know that Roman was his, he had pushed them all away from Roman, desperate to make Roman his and his alone, but Virgil had ignored that. And Ali was going to get him back for it.

His plan? Simple. Get Virgil sent to the school counsellor so that he can't stay with Roman all the time and the prince was left to Ali. Nothing could go wrong, he had sorted it all out. He was to tell the Fairy Godmother that these books had fell from Virgil's' bag and Ali had picked them up and was going to give them back until his curiosity had gotten the better of him and he couldn't help but take a look, then he saw these notes and it had simply scared him.

Ali breathed in quickly and his face morphed easily into fearful worry.

"Fairy Godmother! Oh, Fairy Godmother!" He gasped, opening the door and rushing in.

The Fairy Godmother spun around from the window, her sleeve falling back down her arm, and Ali couldn't comment on her horrified expression or her fast breathing until the story was done. "A-Ali, my boy! Wh-What's the matter?" She stammered.

"Oh, it's horrible, Fairy Godmother, simple horrible! It's Maleficent's' son, Virgil, I'm so worried about him!" Ali threw the books down on the table. "He's been- He's been acting so weird recently and now... Now I see why!" He sounded perfectly breathless and his eyes were stretched in shock. Ali had always been a brilliant actor.

The Fairy Godmother crossed over to her desk and picked up the notebook filled with crazy symbols. "Sleep sorcery..." She mumbled with a frown, pushing it to the side as she looked at the next book. "A-And a book about me-? I- Ali, what's this about, what do you mean by all this?"

Ali shook his head, bottom lip quivering. "Oh, it's the notes he's written to himself that are the worst! They're just so- so nerve-wracking, I can't even imagine what he must be going through!"

"The notes?" The Fairy Godmother asked as she flicked open the book she had stated was on sleep-sorcery. She stiffened when she saw one on the first page.

"Yes, the notes, that's one of them just there! It is so scary, Fairy Godmother, I'm really worried-"

"This can't be Virgil's' handwriting..." She cut him off and Ali hid the annoyance of his interrupted performance.

Ali tilted his head innocently, putting a hand to his chest. "Really? Thank the lord, I was so worried for Virgil-"

"This is Maleficent's' handwriting."

Ali stiffened, jaw dropping and eyes widening in genuine fear and surprise. "Wh-What? Maleficent? How-"

The Fairy Godmother shook her head sadly. "I don't know how, but she must be back in Auradon or about to get back to Auradon through Virgil. I can feel it."

"But-But there's no way! The Isle is secure, there's no way Maleficent can be coming back!" Cried Ali, forgetting all about his petty revenge. Maleficent was a threat that got you to forget any personal issues you had with people. That was the sort of fairy she was.

The doors burst open and the two jumped in fear.

"Fairy Godmother! Have you seen Roman?" It was Patton, with Logan in close second. "He was supposed to come and help us study about half an hour, he's never this late. Do you know if he's got detention or something?"

She didn't answer for a solid minute, staring at Patton. Then she jerked into life, crossing over to her mirror, pulling up the floaty sleeve of her dominant arm.

A large pair of purple horns and a smaller pair of green ones. A red crown. But the warning had changed. The green horns were dripping black substances down her arm that solidified when they reached her fingertips and dropped to the ground as blood.

The Fairy Godmother shot her gaze up to look herself in the eyes, paling quickly.

"F-Fairy Godmother?" Asked a distant voice. "Are you okay? You're bleeding..."

She turned slowly, to see the three students huddled together by the desk. They turned their gaze unanimously to her home and all gasped. "I need to get all our students back into school..." She breathed.

.:*:.

Virgil slapped down Roman's' hand and a sudden announcement sounded over the speakers.

"All Auradon students are to return to school immediately. You will take no detours and come now," Commanded a static version of the Fairy Godmother.

For a moment, Roman was going to obey. For a long period of his life, he'd followed the Fairy Godmother's' command but then the voice was back in his head when he caught Virgil's' purple gaze. The two pushed against the current of students hurriedly leaving the museum and they struggled to a janitor's' cupboard.

Virgil tapped the handle and there was a snapping noise as the lock broke. He pushed it open, ushering Roman inside before stepping inside himself, shutting the door carefully. No one had noticed, everyone was running away desperately. If the voice wasn't there to keep Roman on track, he'd have been shy and embarrassed that he was trapped in such a small place with a villain he'd grown shockingly close to.

The two waited until footsteps were gone and then Roman and Virgil left the cupboard. Neither had spoken a word to each other since they'd been on the school grounds and they were working together easily, both following the instructions of the voice.

They reached the glass cylinder and the wand was just bobbing up and down, defenceless. Roman punched a hole through the glass and snatched it, ignoring the shock of electricity that made his body jerk. The voice told him that the pain wasn't as important as it.

Virgil stuck out his hand expectantly and Roman handed it to him, quickly rubbing his bleeding knuckles.

The silence between the two wasn't awkward. It was the sort of silence you'd find in an office when everyone's doing there job and there was no need to speak. And here came the problem. Getting back to Auradon without being seen.

Roman grabbed Virgil's' hand and he and Virgil vanished in a sudden flash of purple fire, appearing at the back of a horde of running students. Virgil slipped the wand into his jacket pocket and he and Roman ran with their peers, both wearing the perfect mask of confused worry.

Teachers were urging them to hurry inside, to get into the cafeteria for roll call. No one knew what was going on as everyone surged swiftly inside. Virgil grabbed Roman the moment they were inside, pulling him out of the crowd and around a corner.

"The astrology tower," Roman said before Virgil even had time to open his mouth.

"The voice doesn't know where it is," Virgil responded, shaking his head.

Roman grinned but it wasn't his usual grin. It was an empty grin that held no emotion. Just a default reaction. "I do."

.:*:.

"Remus!" Gasped Janus, freezing in the corridors.

"Janus, we can't stop-!"

"It's Virgil and Roman!"

Remus followed Janus's' gaze to see the two boys stealthily slipping up the stairs. Students pushed around them, leaving them cocooned in a bubble as they turned to stare at each other.

"Janus, we have to get to the bottom of this," Remus began.

Janus nodded, placing a finger on Remus's' lips to shut him up. "We will."

Remus frowned. "But... But how do we get to them? We've been told to go to the cafeteria-"

The half-genie smiled. "We get to them by doing what we always do. Disregarding all and any instructions given to us by a higher power."

Remus blinked and a slow, maniac grin grew on his face. "Let's go!"

.:*:.

All the students were lined up in rows, all facing inwards. The Fairy Godmother paced up and down, taking notes of students with Logan behind her to check off whatever name she told him to. She finished her pacing and spun on her heel to face him.

"Logan, who are we missing?" She ordered.

The pale prince whitened even further. "Janus, Remus, Virgil and..." He paused in sorrowful defeat. "Prince Roman is also missing."

The Fairy Godmother inhaled quietly, steadying her panicked breathing. She couldn't freak out, or she'd scare her students. So all she did was nod sharply. "They should get here soon," She promised herself aloud.

Logan glanced up, connecting eyes with Patton. His freckled friend just bowed his head and Logan knew exactly what was going through his head. Patton was blaming himself for this. It had been his idea to bring the villains to Auradon. It would be him taking the blame if there was anyone left to blame after this.

The Fairy Godmother's' arm was dripping blood heavily now, the pair of small, green horns now coated in the black sludge that turned into the blood running from her fingertips. 

They were running out of time.

.:*:.

The astrology tower was cold that evening. Virgil and Roman were following the instructions of the voice, throwing out expensive telescopes and books with funny names.

The prince handed the fairy the wand which he'd taken from Virgil when Virgil had to throw a large box from the tower. Steadying his breath, Virgil opened his purple eyes. They were glowing now as he cast a curious symbol on the ground. Standing in the centre, the final protests died away and Virgil began to chant softly, growing louder.

Roman could feel the energy and power rolling off him and so could everything else. Things they didn't move were slowly creeping across the floor, clouds were brushing away from them and Virgil kept his arm stubbornly pointed at the Isle. But then-

"Virgil!" Screamed Janus, running up from the ladder. He darted forwards, then froze outside of the symbol. "Virgil, please, stop!"

Virgil began to chant louder and louder, closing his eyes and that's when Remus appeared from the top of the ladder. In the teenagers' hand was a large rock. "Virgil, I am so sorry!" He yelled and, before Roman had the chance to stop him, he hurled it at Virgil. It hit him square in the back and the wand cluttered to the ground, the symbol fading.

Janus ran in, grabbing Virgil's' arms from behind him. "Virgil, whatever you've been doing these past few months has to stop, please!" Begged the half-genie, forcing Virgil away from the wand, kicking it harshly.

The wand teetered away but Roman dived, catching it. In the shining reflection of the wand, he saw purple eyes flash back at him instead of his usual brown ones but the voice told him not to care. The voice recited the chant and Roman repeated it, slowly at first because the words were not English.

Remus moved to steady another shot but Roman side-stepped it, having played too many sports in his time to not lose focus.

A harsh bang was heard and Roman dropped the wand right after there was a pale shoot of lightning. Janus screamed out, pulling away and Remus covered his eyes but Virgil and Roman watched, entranced. The lightning hit the Isle's' barrier.

.:*:.

A girl in the cafeteria screamed and everyone turned when there was a bright flash from a large ornate window. Pale lightning struck the barrier around the Isle and there was a loud fizz. The Fairy Godmother gasped, stumbling back in fear as the lightning crackled, dragging itself back and forth on the barrier until a smashing noise was heard.

The Isle had always looked hazy. Now, it was as clear as day and everyone began screaming at the sound of hideous laughter.

The Fairy Godmother turned to her dominant arm and resisted the urge to cry. There were only two, large horns on her bicep now. One was purple. The other was coated in black sludge, that fell to the ground as heavy, thick blood.

Maleficent was coming.


	21. Chapter 21

The astrology tower was destroyed. The roof had been blown off with the sheer strength of the magic blast, and it had crushed a small section of the neighbouring forest. Walls had been torn down, some sections scattered in the cold, charred floor, other bricks hurtling down only to shatter when they touched the ground. The frigid wind was blowing gently but it was the calm before the storm that was spreading vigorously from the Isle. Stone tiles were charred and dirty from the explosion of magic and four boys were huddled there. One was on his feet, staring fearfully out at where you could see a large black shape wading through the ocean. One was cradling the smallest one, sobbing. The final one was regaining consciousness.

Romans' head hurt. It burnt and crackled and his body was slow and unresponsive. Slowly, he managed to move his arms beneath him and pushed himself up. Every drop of blood in his veins was screeching in pain and Roman groaned.

"Janus!" He heard someone whisper, but Roman didn't look around. It would hurt too much. Struggling onto his hands and knees, Roman felt something cold tap his knuckles. A silver wand. The Fairy Godmothers' wand.

"What?" He frowned, ignoring how much it hurt his muscles. A stone suddenly flew through the air and hit him in the shoulder. He cried out and fell back to the ground. "What the hell?" He shouted hoarsely, finally turning to look at whoever was there.

A moustached teenager. A moustached villain. Remus. He stood there, tossing another stone readily in his hand, and he growled protectively, struggling to block two people from view. Janus and Virgil. "You better stop right there and get outta the prince's' head!" He snarled.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Roman snapped and Remus finally seemed to notice... well, he noticed something.

"She's gone, isn't she?" He asked. Roman frowned at Remus and was about to ask what he meant but Remus continued. "She's left your head, hasn't she? She's gone and you're wondering why you're in the trashed astrology tower. You're not sure what you've done but you know you've done something..." His voice dropped lower than a whisper and his words stung Roman.

How? How could Remus get so close to what he was feeling when not even Roman knew? But the words were true. Roman knew something had happened but it was far from remembered. He knew he had had someone in his head, someone easily stronger than him and someone who had left him with no advice on what to do next. Someone who got him to-

Roman gasped, even though he could hardly catch a breath. He spun around on the ground, sitting back on his heels, as he stared out to the Isle of the Lost. The barrier was gone.

"What have I done?" He whispered. He turned around to face Remus and the villains but they were gone.

.:*:.

A fizz, a pop and an explosion made the students scramble desperately away from a burst of green fire. There she stood.

The Dark Fairy. The Sorceress. Maleficent.

"I'm ba-ack!" She cooed teasingly, slouching on her staff. "Did you miss me? I know you did!"

Students screamed as large, gloopy black tentacles shattered a window, pulling in a large, large sea-witch. Ursula slithered ungracefully across the stone, taking her place on Maleficent's' right while Jafar appeared, his golden lamp attached securely to his belt. He wasn't a man anymore, he was a furious red genie and towered obediently behind the two women.

"Get out," breathed the Fairy Godmother.

Maleficent pouted. "You make it sound like you don't want me here, such a shame." She lost the taunting tone and her eyes hardened. "Where's my son?"

"He's not here," The Fairy Godmother growled.

Maleficent sighed loudly. "Jafar, I wish for our children to be here."

The genie smirked and the three villains appeared in a flash of red light. Instantly, Remus jumped in front of them, trying to protect his friends. "Janus," Smiled Jafar.

"Father," Janus replied bitterly. "Great to see you're still trying to gatecrash."

Jafar's' smile dropped and he scowled sourly. Janus yelped, suddenly materializing in his fathers' grip, leaving Virgil on the ground. "I thought Auradon would make you more obedient," Commented Jafar, glaring up at his son. "Looks like you're still an excuse, half-genie." He dropped his son and Janus quickly vanished in a puff of yellow smoke, appearing next to Remus.

All the Auradon students were silent. During their time here, the villain's' children had never really given them a hard time. Sure, it had been odd getting used to them here but they stayed to themselves. Now, their parents were here and none of them seemed to happy to see them.

The Fairy Godmother stood in front of the three children, desperate to protect them. "What do you want, Maleficent?"

"Why, does a mother need a reason to come see her son? It was, after all, he and Roman who broke the barrier for us..."

The room gasped collectively. "No!" Cried Patton and Logan quickly covered his mouth as Maleficent slowly turned to face him.

"No?" She asked coolly. "Ooh, I see. Belle's' boy. Yes, of course, you'd have to disagree on that. I've looked in Virgilious's' head, you and Prince Roman are good friends."

Remus stiffened. "You were the one making him act so odd..." He breathed, tentacles tensing dangerously.

"Remus!" Scolded Ursula, clouting her son over the back of her head with her own tentacles. "You will not defy Maleficent!" Remus bowed his head sullenly.

Maleficent turned back to Remus and pushed past him and Janus without even a second glance. "He should never have looked me in the eyes when you were leaving. It gave me the perfect chance to plant my spell." She frowned. "Is he awake?"

"Of course, I'm awake," Growled Virgil, not moving from his fetal position. "I'm just really hoping that I'll die soon so I'm preparing for my funeral. I leave everything to Janus but Remus can have my favourite pair of socks."

Maleficent's' face darkened and she grabbed Virgil by the arm, yanking him onto his feet. Virgil yelped but his eyes accidentally locked onto his mothers'. Hers' flashed green and his flashed purple. She dropped him and Virgil stumbled back but swiftly regained his posture, head bowed.

"Virgil?" Whispered Remus, wide-eyed.

Virgil raised his head and both Janus and Remus stepped back at the poisonous purple eyes.

"Are you crazy?" Gasped the Fairy Godmother. "You're controlling a fifteen-year-old? How is that fair, there's no way he's able to stand to your magic!"

"Oh, my dear Fairy Godmother," Smiled Maleficent. "I'm not fair.

The Virgil spoke, but it wasn't Virgil. It was his voice, yes, and his mouth moving but it wasn't Virgil. Maleficent was mouthing the words with green eyes as Virgil said, "You'll hear this better from him, so listen up. I believe this all the Fairy Godmother's' fault. She never noticed that I made a tear in the Isle's' barrier that let some of my magic be accessible. She never made a thorough check and the tear just got a little bigger each year. Now, Fairy Godmother, explain how controlling works."

The Fairy Godmother stared. "The controller must make sure that the controlled is feeling safe or with someone they trust. Then, they mark eye contact and you take controll of their thoughts and magic, and, sometimes, their actions and emotions. You can loosen your control on them sometimes and let them return to normal but the control is only really broken when the controller lets go," She whispered. The Fairy Godmother shivered and quickly grew angry. "You're breaking the code, Maleficent! The boy is only fifteen, you can't control him!"

"Ah," Virgil smirked while Maleficent mouthed the words. "But I did. And no one stopped me."

"Why Roman?" Logan asked. Everyone turned but he didn't stop staring down Maleficent. "Why did you have to use Roman?"

Maleficent smirked and spoke in her own voice. "Because he literally set it all up. He was starting to feel quite attracted to my son and I thought it would be good to protect Virgilious with some startling jock to take the spotlight and leave my son to scurry in the shadows. Turned out to be a good idea. These two-" She pointed to Janus and Remus who were staring from the controlled Virgil to Maleficent, "-attacked their own friend and they didn't see Roman until a little too late."

"Where is he?" Logan asked.

The smirk grew madly. "Oh, either dead from pain or very confused. I let go of him, he's unimportant. Also," She turned and looked eyes with Ali. "Virgil never liked you and those feelings have kind of rubbed off. I know Jafar would like to do this, but I saw your father over there, so he can take him out instead." Ali paled and took a step back. Then he was gone, leaving nothing but clothes n the ground. Ali was gone. "There we go," Smiled Maleficent. "Let's clean up when we can, hmm?"

"You killed him!" Gasped a student from somewhere.

Ursula laughed. "I've missed that."

Jafar sighed crossly. "There's not even a body to kick..."

"Get your own line, old man..." Muttered Remus, crossing his arms. Jafar chose to ignore him.

Maleficent turned to Virgil. She clapped her hands and Virgil's' eyes lit up. They flickered green for a moment and then he yelped in pain, moving to grab his head as his knees buckled slightly. He stumbled around, clutching his head. Pushing from his back, his large wings looked more solid than ever and they began to tear his grey-checkered jacket in half. Scales grew up his neck and his jaw bone shoved forwards. Erupting from his skull were the short horns that once were hidden under his messy hair and they multiplied along his spine, tearing his shirt that was already ripping from his growing torso.

"What are you doing to him?!" Cried Patton, grabbing at Logan desperately.

Janus and Remus fell back to the two princes. "She's forcing a shift..." Breathed Janus.

"Basically, she's putting Virgil in a lot of pain to force him to shift before his time," Remus said.

Virgil was no longer a humanoid. His form was originally cat-like, but it grew to the warped form of a lizard with wings. The scales covered his whole body, his clothes were destroyed beneath him and he had a long green tail. Virgil opened his eyes. Virgil was now a dragon that was still growing.

The Fairy Godmother paled as she saw Virgil begin to hit the roof. "All students and staff, please! Get out!" She instructed. Everyone bolted as fast as they could: out of windows, out of doors out of anywhere. Only four students stayed. Patton was quacking with terror and Logan held tightly to them while Janus and Remus screamed Virgil's' name. Jafar and Ursula watched in with sick fascination and Maleficent beamed when Virgil made the roof above them break apart and fall to the ground.

People screamed as they were crushed under large slaps of the roof and the Fairy Godmother desperately protected those she could.

.:*:.

The floor beneath Roman shook and he quickly fell backwards, sitting down involuntarily. He glanced out of the window and his jaw dropped.

A dragon. A fucking dragon.

"Well, shit," Roman said.


	22. Chapter 22

How much damage can a dragon do in the span of a few short minutes?

Well, let me tell you.

As much as it fucking wants.

Virgil had never shifted into a dragon before. Needless to say, it wasn't very easy being one. He had huge wings that knocked over pillars, he had horns, he had giant talons and a tail that demolished everything. Also, he really needed to sneeze.

Maleficent pointed at a part of the forest and she glared up at him, eyes flashing green. The dragon bowed his purple head and instantly the forest was ablaze, crackling loudly. Birds screamed, animals ran and the smell of burning wood filled the air, sizzling and crackling as it spread deeper and deeper. A few trees that had lined the forest were no more than blackened stumps. Maleficent ordered him to fire again, and the dragon burnt it all down to nothing but soot.

Needless to say, it was terrifying.

Logan and Patton were sheltering behind what remained of a wall, backs pressed against the uneven stone, face dirty with dust. Patton glanced over the back of the rubble and narrowed his eyes. "She's a monster..." He muttered.

"No, just psychotic and evil," Logan grumbled sarcastically. Even it times like this, he had a retort.

"I'm just gonna-"

"Get down!" Yelped Logan suddenly, grappling Patton by the arm and yanking him down. A jet of fire followed close after and torched a bit of Patton's' hair. Logan patted out any embers, eyes wide with panic. "We have to break the spell on Virgil, Maleficent will tear down all of Auradon and Virgil's probably too weak to get out of this himself."

Patton hesitated, glancing cautiously and thoughtfully to the giant dragon. "You don't know that..." He mumbled.

Snow White's' son turned to face Patton directly. "You're planning something... What is it?"

"Eh, probably something clumsy..." Logan raised an eyebrow at Patton and his friend grinned back, confidence hiding fear. "It's probably brave too. Maybe not clever, though."

Logan's' concern turned to fondness and he reached forwards, wiping some dirt off Patton's' glasses. "Stay alive..." Y'know, it would've been a cute moment if there weren't any screamings of terrified children in the distance, they weren't hiding in the remains of their boarding school and the forest wasn't on fire.

Patton smiled and turned to leave, before spinning around again. "Before I inevitably die, I want to do this." He leaned in and kissed Logan's' cheek. Pulling back to look at his stunned friend, he smiled sadly. "I mean, there won't be another moment like this. Bye, Logie!" And he got up, leaving the shelter and sprinting in the direction of Jafar, who stood a good way off.

"Patton!" Yelled Logan, reaching out fruitlessly but the other was gone.

Suddenly a hand grasped Logan's' shoulder.

.:*:.

The room looked exactly the same as it had only hours ago. It hadn't been damaged yet, nothing was burnt or broken, it was all so oddly... normal. Remus blinked. He had never expected this life to grow so quickly on him. He had come in with high expectations of him being a jerk but then he just decided not to so randomly. He had been too worried about Virgil to care about some stupid image.

Shifting his mace in his hand, Remus resisted the urge to lie on his bed and convince himself it was all a dream. He needed to fetch something.

Sitting on Janus's' bedside table, gleaming in the reflection of flames from the window, was the half-genie's' lamp. Remus picked it up and put it safely in his back pocket. An ember flew in through the window, landing at the foot of Remus's' bed.

The villain sighed, sitting down on the floor and falling onto his back, exhausted for no reason. He just felt really, really tired... And the smell of smoke seemed to grow stronger, the heat scorched somewhere behind him. Reluctantly, he tilted his head back to peer at his bed and let out a strangled screech.

His entire bed was on fire. Literally. The covers shrivelled in flickering flame, the inferno wrapped around the bedposts hungrily and it was spreading very quickly out to the door.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Remus shouted, jumping to his feet. The fire had already engulfed the doorway and Remus wouldn't be able to get past without either setting himself on fire or scarring himself for life. Both outcomes weren't exactly favoured. So there was the third outcome.

Remus stood, poised, then started running, moving his mace to protect his stomach and using his arms to shield his head. He charged through the window.

Well, he could cross, 'Running out of a burning room by jumping through the window' off his bucket list!

Remus was caught all of a sudden, the rushing wind gone from around him. Peering out of his eyes, he saw the window he had jumped through on the other side of the dragon and Janus was holding him carefully.

"What was that?" Yelled the half-genie. "I asked you to grab my lamp, not attempt to end up as a splatter on the ground!"

"I'm... dizziness, very dizzy," He mumbled up to Janus, eyes half-closed. "Disorientated and... uhm... disorientated."

Janus sighed loudly. "I can't believe you, give me my lamp."

"...Is in my pocket..." Remus replied.

Grabbing the lamp, Janus hesitated. This was only a theory. It's not like there had ever been any half-genies before that he could copy from. Janus swallowed and rubbed the lamp.

The idea was that it would notice his human side and he could wish to be able to use his own wishes. Up until then, he would grant the wishes of his friends and hope they coincided with what he wanted.

The lamp shone in the light and he tried again with a different hand. "C'mon," He muttered, "Work..."

Janus didn't really know what he was expecting. A bright flash of light? Would he end up in the lamp before getting ejected back out? Would it even respond? Probably not-

"Okay," Janus said shortly, stuck inside a cramped black void. "That just happened."

.:*:.

Logan spun around, fist coiled and just missed breaking Roman's' nose but successfully managing to sock his friend in the jaw.

"Argh! Dude, what the hell?" Yelled Roman, falling back.

"Sorry," Logan apologised awkwardly. "I'm a little on edge."

"No shit," Roman narrowed his eyes but quickly scrambled behind the cover. "What the hell is going on?!"

Logan swallowed, risking a glance around the shelter. Virgil's' tail smacked over a tower and something exploded. "A dragon is attacking Auradon-"

"I can see that, Lo!" Snapped Roman. He turned to Logan, eyes brimming with worry. "Where's Virgil?" Logan didn't respond and Roman's' face paled, tears beginning to form. "Logan, where's Virgil?!"

Logan slowly, robotically, unflinchingly pointed at the large dragon, eyes not once leaving Roman's' face. His friend turned white and tears began to fall down his face. "Maleficent's put a spell on him... I'm so sorry, Roman, she killed Ali-"

"Well, fuck Ali, right now!" Roman shouted, climbing to his feet. "I'll be back, Logan, I'm gonna beat a witch!"

"Roman, no!" Logan lunged, grappling Roman and pulling him back to the ground. "She'll kill you! She might get Virgil to kill you!"

"Yeah?" Growled Roman. "Fuck it." Suddenly, he paused and turned to Logan. "Where's Patton?"


	23. Chapter 23

There are several things you'd expect when you're helping a sorceress burn down a school while using her own son as the weapon. You'd be expecting the screams, the crying, the smoke, the heat and the pure chaos of it all. You wouldn't be expecting a young student to suddenly tackle you from behind then steal your lamp right off your belt. Especially when you're about twenty feet high, or more. And you're a genie. Yeah, that's not something you'd expect.

Patton clung to the cold lamp tightly running from the big, bad genie-man as fast as he could.

Well, this was fun.

Jesus, he really should have tried more in PE.

Hurtling and coughing through the thick smoke, Patton made a run for the burning forest before him. All he had to do was find the cove that he had found Virgil and Roman in several weeks ago and hide from the fire, hoping that Jafar would be too cautious of the fire to follow him in.

Neither of the other two women seemed to see him dash past, but Jafar followed, roaring furiously. Patton darted among the burning trees, suddenly regretting his choices. The air grew even thicker and the heat was unbearable but he kept going. This was one of the most stupid things he had ever done. What the hell was he doing? He was gonna die. Jafar was gonna pick up his burnt corpse and take the lamp from his sizzled hands. Yeah. That sounds about right.

A jet of flame from Virgil took out a huge portion of the forest on his right and Patton only allowed himself a brief moment to look at the blackened stumps and torched ground. Okay, so that would be another way to go. The fear made his heart pound and his feet move faster, despite the stitch rapidly growing.

Jafar was rushing into the forest behind him, uprooting trees in his anger and desperateness to get to Patton. The prince could hear him getting closer, he could see the shadow looming over him, he could feel the fury radiating from him.

He rushed through the forest, finding that there was less fire the deeper he ran in and that definitely made it better. He breathed in the slowly cleansing air and his feet were in a lot of pain. Honestly, that was probably one of the only things on his mind. How much his feet heard, how his knees were tiring and his legs were just slowly burning up. His lungs felt like they were collapsing on him but, still, he pushed forwards. Suddenly, the floor beneath him vanished and he ran straight into the cove, flying forwards in the air.

Jafar was right behind him, screaming in fury and reaching a hand out to grasp Patton. It was all happening in slow motion. The wind that ran through his hair seemed to hardly move, the gravity that slowly tugged at him barely did a thing at all, the stark cold rush of breeze did nothing to cool him. The only thing that actually moved in this slowed world was his rapid heart, pulsing the fear and adrenaline around his veins. Jafar's' fingers stretched to close around Patton when, suddenly, the world moved again.

Patton plummeted into the cold pool below, sinking down a metre or so and bouncing harmlessly off the sandy bed. Water filled the lamp, and Patton swam up to the surface, gasping for air.

Jafar just stood there. He was no longer a genie. He was just a normal man once more. But he seemed different. As if he were lighter. As if he were shocked. As if he were brighter, stunned, different. He was not the same. He stood, blankly staring, looking at the water. He didn't attack.

Patton began to swim forwards fearfully, climbing out of the water, soaked to the skin. Jafar didn't react and Patton suddenly realised.

"The water," He breathed. "It's magic, of course! And so's your lamp! It must've done something to you."

Jafar didn't respond and Patton placed the wet lamp in the genie's' hands. Nothing. No response, no glance down at the golden lamp in his hands, no sudden attack. He just stared at the water.

So Patton left him there, venturing back out into the forest. Well, that solved one problem.


	24. Chapter 24

So, there was one question he never thought of when he decided to rub the lamp...

How do you expect to get out of the lamp you just trapped yourself in?

Honestly, Janus had no idea.

The lamp was cool, unlike the blazing inferno outside, and the blackness was definitely easier on the eyes compared to an entire building on fire.

Okay, so, now what? He had rubbed the lamp and he had gotten stuck in it. The half-genie swam through the air to place his hands on the cold wall, pressing his ear against it. He could hear screaming, crying and Remus. Janus pursed his lips and glared at nothing. It was more like he was trying to glare at himself, as if the black barrier of this void could somehow reflect him. How he wished it would-

Janus threw himself back from the wall with a screech and his reflection did too, mouth opening soundlessly as it mimicked him.

"Jan?" Remus's' voice asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" His voice cracked a little. "I've just managed to do something. I'm fine."

The lamp got scooped up and you could hear the concern as Remus said, "Should I get you out?"

"No," Janus wafted from side to side, eyeing his reflection like as he did. "I think I've gotten what I came here for."

"What was that? The loophole thing you were talking about?"

Janus's' smile was breathless as he touched his fingers lightly against the wall, meeting his reflection. "Yep," He whispered. "I can grant my own wishes..."

.:*:.

Here's another question for you.

What does Roman do when the boy he may or may not think is cute has shifted into a dragon because he's being mind-controlled by his mother?

Well, long story short, he attempts to ride the dragon.

No, Logan didn't see what it would actually achieve either. Maybe death? Did Roman want to die? Hopefully, he didn't want to die and this was one of his stupid plans that will just result in minor injuries. But, that wasn't the top thing on Logan's' mind on the moment. Patton had just ran, choking out of the blazing forest, and Logan couldn't think of anyone else.

He ran blindly past Remus holding a golden lamp and rushed to his friend desperately, grabbing his wrists and pulling him away from the inferno desperately, stumbling and dragging them both further away from the suffocating smoke.

"Are you okay?!" Logan asked, almost in tears as he held Patton tightly.

"I'm alive and that's something, right?"

A smile cracked onto Logan's' face and the tears rolled freely as he hugged Patton tighter, never wanting to let go. Patton was surprised that he wasn't getting lectured for how stupid that was. That Logan wasn't angry, even if the anger came from fear. His friend just held him as tight as he could, crying, because he was so happy that Patton was alive.

Patton was happy that he was alive, too, of course. Even if he had nearly passed out in the forest on his way back.

Then, in the rush of the moment, with the adrenaline still fresh in his veins and his heart pounding, Patton wormed out of Logan's' grasp. The prince quickly took hold of the taller's' face and brought him down to a kiss. And Logan was happy to let him.

It was short, rushed and a little messy, but sparks still jumped in their blood when their lips connected and the electric pulse filled every ounce of them with static fire. But Patton let it end almost as suddenly as it began.

"Where's Roman?" He asked, realising there wasn't any annoying commentary about future weddings between the two princes.

Logan paled and twisted to look over to where Maleficent and Virgil were. "Oh, shit."

.:*:.

Roman was going to go straight for the dragon. That was his plan. Yeah, it wasn't a good one, but he suddenly found that improvising on a theatre stage is a whole lot harder than improvising in the middle of a dragon attack. Well, technically, it wasn't a dragon attacking, it was Virgil in the form of a dragon. And it also wasn't really Virgil attacking, it was more like he was being used as the weapon but it was really all Maleficent. Okay, too many specifics and not the right time.

The prince was moving carefully up to Virgil's' large foot and he swallowed nervously as he saw those talons tearing through the earth like it was nothing. Probably be best if he avoided those.

Roman approached carefully and put one foot up on a claw and then pushed himself up high, wrapping around Virgil's' ankle in the same way a koala would cling to a tree, just a little less cute and more like, 'holy fuck, is he going to die or not?'.

Instantly, dragon-Virgil started roaring and it made his ears want to bleed. The roar echoed in his skull, it shook his skeleton and it made the ground shake. Then his plan failed because a fat hand grabbed him and yanked him off the dragon's' ankle.

Ursula dragged Roman before Maleficent and held him in place, a pair of tentacles taking hold of his ankles and she held his wrists behind his back.

"Cinderella's' boy, right?" Maleficent asked, gliding over to him, like a ghost. "Yes, I remember you... You were very helpful. And you were such a pretty boy?"

Roman's' heart stopped. "Were?" He echoed.

Maleficent's' smile was cold and filled with sadistic delight. "Yes, 'were'. See," She gently pressed her fingertips together, smirking. "I'm not entirely sure what you were planning to do, but it was probably going to get in my way. Ursula, hold him still."

Ursula nodded. "Yes, Maleficent." And her grip tightened painfully.

The sorceress turned to look up at Virgil. "Kill him," She ordered.

Dragon-Virgil looked down at Roman and the prince searched in those big, purple eyes for some flecks of serpent green.

"Kill him?" Ursula spluttered. "But-! I'm right behind him!"

"Sacrifices, my dear Ursula." Maleficent shrugged indifferently. "You don't really do much without your potions. Besides," Thorns shut up from the floor to hold the sea witch in place. "You're not getting much of a choice with this one. Virgil, fire!"

But the dragon was shaking his head slowly, looking down at Roman. His eyes were faltering and flickering between the two polar colours. Roman stared up at Virgil pleadingly, a blossom of victory being born in his chest. He wasn't going to die... He wasn't going to die! He wasn't-!

Maleficent balled her fists and glared up at her son, making the colours fix back to the glowing purple. Virgil sucked in a breath obediently and let out a jet of fire.

He failed.


	25. Chapter 25

He failed.

But there was no incinerating fire. He hadn't died in screams, fire and pain. Roman risked opening his eyes. Yellow smoke was settling around him, he was a good distance away from the school. Suddenly, Patton enveloped him in a hug.

"Roman, you doofus!" He yelled. "You could've been killed!"

"Well, I wasn't," He mumbled in reply, blinking away a growing headache. "What the hell happened?"

Janus cleared his throat. "I saved your ass from getting burnt. I accidentally saved Ursula's', too, but she's currently freaking out over the fact Maleficent is gonna end her."

Roman frowned. "W-Wait, how did you save me?"

Remus grinned. "Jan found a loophole and trapped himself in his lamp after rubbing it and now he can grant his own wishes!" He said, all in one, very fast breath.

Roman blinked. "Wha?"

"That's not important at the moment," Logan interrupted. "What's important is that Maleficent must've wished for her magic over Virgil to be unbreakable by outside forces."

The recently rescued prince arched an eyebrow cautiously. "Outside forces?" He echoed.

"We can't do anything that will snap Virgil out of this," Logan explained. "But we could kill Maleficent and that, in theory, should free Virgil from hey hypnotism."

Janus stiffened. "Wait... In theory?"

Patton glanced up at Logan as the intellectual prince continued. "There is... Always a decent chance that... It could kill Virgil too, or give him severe brain damage."

"We're not doing that!" Remus and Roman chorused. Remus quickly glared at Roman. Roman backed down - inside, he was still very scared of the crazy Isle kid.

Janus balled his fists. "I'll be able to fix the brain damage. Anything else would be beyond my power."

Patton, who looked rather pale, managed a frown. "I thought you didn't follow the rules because you're a half-genie."

"No," Janus replied. "No genie can bring someone back from the dead. We can't make people fall in love either. That's not something any of us can do."

Remus looked stunned. "You're not gonna do this, right, Jan?" The half-genie didn't reply and Remus grew frantic. "Janus? Deceit? JJ? Double Dee? Snakey?" When his friend didn't reply to any of the desperate nicknames Remus was pouring out, Ursula's' son whitened and sagged slightly. His head dropped to face the ground and Janus responded.

He stepped forwards and kissed Remus's' forehead. "It'll be fine."

"If our family dies, I'm killing you next," Remus mumbled softly.

Janus smiled weakly. "I'll be okay with that."

"We don't have much time, you two," Logan said, staring off into the distance of the burning school. The dragon was smacking it down to no more than rubble with his tail. "We need to act fast if we want anything left of Auradon."

Patton perked up. "What we need is a distraction."

Logan almost smirked as he looked over to Ursula. The villain had been watching them all while trapped in Janus's' yellow mist and her purple-blue skin paled when Logan said, "I think I've got one."


	26. Chapter 26

In her moment of glory, watching Auradon Prep burn to the ground and knowing her inevitable victory was just in her grasp, Maleficent didn't expect to see a flabby octopus lady be thrown across the sky in a beautiful arc, screaming loudly.

Yep. Really didn't expect that. It had been quite surprising.

While Maleficent gaped and Virgil waited coweringly for instructions, the others stepped in. Patton was holding a summoned collection of first aid, helping injured students and staff. Everyone had agreed to try keep him as far from the fighting as possible, for he was too important to be lost to Auradon. The country needed him more than the others. Janus and Remus were back to back, Remus with his morning star and Janus with his lamp. The half genie was no longer in his 'human' form and was a fully fledged, smoking fiasco of a golden genie with bronze and copper mixed in. Roman was hiding behind Virgil, prepared to try and snap him out of it, even if last time nearly ended badly. He was sure he could manage.

Logan had borrowed Roman's' sword and had drawn it as he crept up behind the fairy. He began to stand up, quietly rasing the katana to get a clean swipe of her head. The world seemed to hold it's breath as Maleficent watched Ursula fly in the air, mouth open wide. Her head followed the sea witch across the dark sky until it was level again once she had flown out of sight. And, just before Logan took the swing, she caught sight of the fire glistening on the blade and flashed away in a puff of flame as Logan narrowly missed.

"How dare you!" She screeched, appearing a good few metres to Logan's' right. The prince wasn't interested in her monologing, so he just went for another swing, only for the fairy to step back. "Oh, how dare you," Maleficent growled, the surprise fleeting quickly. In a small flicker of green flame, her nails grew wicked, cruel and monsterous, nearly as long as Roman's' katana. Poison dripped of them and sizzled on the ground.

Logan blinked. "Ah," He said and he fight began.

Remus was about to charge head-in, but Janus grabbed him by the arm. "But you might get hurt!" Protested the now giant genie, holding his lover's' wrist in a giant palm.

"So will nerdy wolverine over there," Remus responed firmly. "Besides, I'll be fine. I jumped out of a window, like, ten minutes ago!" And he ran over, shrieking 'Purge of the Octopus' at the top of his lungs before plunging into the battle.

Janus went to follow, only to see Roman about to get himself killed. Nobody saw that coming.

It seemed that the prince had a knack for suicidal missions, as Cinderella's' only son was running as fast as he could up Virgil's' tail, holding his arms out for balance as he raised onto the dragon's' hindquarters, only succeeding in infuriating the beast. He grabbed onto Virgil's' fins as the fairy tried to shake him off vigurously, a roar breaking through the pandomium.

"Get off him!" Demanded Maleficent, breaking from her battle with Remus and Logan breifly to fire a calculated missile of black shards, before being forced to defend herself. Roman just ducked in time, nearly falling off in the process.

Roman was breathing heavily, stumbling along Virgil's' back, holding onto his rigid spines for dear life. Janus appeared next to him, shrinking his giant genie form to be human-sized once more. "This is a fancy way to commit suicide, if that's what you want," Janus snapped sarcastically, turning a collection of Maleficent's' black shards into harmless sand with a wave of his hand.

"I'm not... trying... to die," Retorted Roman grouchily, his exhaustion obvious in his voice. It was harder than it looked.

"You seem to be," Janus responded, turning a flight of ravens into tiny woodlice, that dropped angrily to the floor and bounced off the dragon's' scales.

Roman glanced at the genie. "Any help would be appreciated, y'know," He prompted.

"'Fraid not, princey," Janus said. "I'm not in this form for very long, my dad's vanished somewhere and I need to make sure no one dies so I have absolutely no time to help you." Roman looked at him in disbelief until the genie grinned. "Joke," He added and, in a puff of yellow, Roman was standing on Virgil's' snout, looking into the dragon's' eyes.

"Well, shit," He breathed, just as Logan was scratched by Maleficent's' newly arrived talons.

He'd been holding his own incredibly well, hacking off the fairy's' claws to defend himself and attemtping to stab her at every chance he got and Remus had, surprisingly, been a blessing in battle because he fought with a mad frenzy that kept the villian constantly occupied. But Logan tired far easily than the Isle folk. His dodges became sloppier and his jabs were beginning to carry him with them. It was inevitable and the poison was horrible.

The moment the liquid touched his blood, it felt like it had just electrocuted it. Logan dropped Roman's' katana, shaking madly for a brief few seconds before dropping, sprawled on the ground. A small trickle of foaming dribble began to spill from the corner of his mouth and he spasmed on the ground madly, coughing every now and then. His vision was getting blurry and he kept seeing little spots that he couldn't focus on, despite their growing numbers.

He remembered a yellow, steaming figure of Janus that was slowly turning more human appear besides him but he had blacked out by the time the half-genie had gotten him to Patton.

Patton had been doing very well. He had found a small place as far away from the fire as he could get to keep people from breathing in too much smoke, and was nursing as amny as he could when a familiar villain appeared.

"Patton!" Janus shouted. "Patton, it's Logan!"

Instantly, the prince dropped the bandage roll he'd been holding, his freckled face paled and he was terrified almost senseless. "Logan?!" He cried, rushing over. He looked down at his boyfriend, horrorfied. "What happened?!"

Janus was breathing heavily too. "Maleficent- poisoned him. I-I don't know what it is, I don't know what to do-"

"You can make wishes!" Patton shouted desperately, only looking at Logan as he tried to smear away the foam and rub away the blood, tears in his eyes. "I wish Logan to not be poisoned! Now do it!"

"I can't!" Janus shouted. "I dropped my lamp to pick him up, it's over there!"

Patton finally looked up. "Since when did you need a lamp?!"

"Since I practically exhausted myself in your boyfriend's' stupid plan!" Janus retorted, before catching hold of himself. He took in a deep breath, and calmed down, looking into Patton's' eyes. "I'll get my lamp," He said, calmer now. "And then we can end this thing."


	27. Chapter 27

Roman stared into Virgil's' large, reptilian eyes, crouching low on the snout with fear. His heartbeat was pummelling in his ears and he couldn't move. The purple eyes were almost hypnotic, gazing into his own, like spikes. Every second dragged on. The clock ticked by. Nothing happened. Roman felt like the eyes turned green every now and then.

"Hi, Virgil," Roman said softly. "How are you?"

The dragon's' snout crinkled with a snarl, and Roman lost his footing, stumbling a little onto his hands and knees. With feigned calmness, he sat back.

"I forgive you, y'know," He whispered. "For trying to kill me. I don't think that you were in control. I don't think you've been in control for a long time." The prince tapped his hand onto one of the dragon's' large scales. "Whenever you're ready, you can come back," He promised quietly. "We don't have to fight. I know you don't want to fight."

Unblinking, purple eyes fazed briefly to a green but nothing happened. The dragon kept watching him thoughtfully.

Roman swallowed, growing desperate as he watched Janus vanish. "People are getting hurt, Virgil. I know you don't want that. For a villain's' son, you're caring, gentle and you can turn into a cat. A cat, Virgil." Roman made a terror-provoked laugh. "Cats are cooler than dragons. They're fluffier and, let's be honest, are far more house-trained. What if you turned into a cat? That'd be cool. You can be a cat and we don't have to burn the school to the ground, no matter how much I hate getting homework. You don't have to listen to her, Virgil. You don't have to listen to your mother, she's not the boss of you."

Despite his soft pleading, Virgil's' eyes just grew more purple by the second. Roman broke eye contact to glance down to Maleficent, but she was occupied, fighting Remus. Where was Logan? In that brief moment, Roman suddenly found himself being hurled into the air viciously, hurtling over the dragon.

Well, this is interesting, he thought, as he began to fly up rapidly, knowing that the unforgiving ground would be the last thing he was going to feel.

.:*:.

Remus blocked one swipe and then the next, retreating and retreating as Maleficent pushed on. Since Logan had been poisoned, Remus had been losing severely, only just keeping up with the fight's' pace. He was playing purely defensively and any dirty tricks were tricks that could risk his life.

The heat of the burning school behind him was hot on his neck and brought his sweat on faster. It felt only a foot away.

Maleficent was grinning maniacally, slashing madly. She knew she'd win. The boy was slowing, getting tired, just like the other one. All it would take to get rid of him is one strike to land or to back him up into the fire. The fire seemed more fun at the moment. She was not happy and wanted to listen to someone's' dying shrieks. But Ursula's' brat was resilient. Of course, he was. He side-stepped and jumped around in infuriatingly unpredictable ways. With the Auradon child, he had been trained in fencing and his form was easier to break. Remus had no form. He had raw instincts and they rivalled Maleficent's'. It was time to start cheating.

"You know, I always preferred you," She panted, keeping her voice light. "The other two were too uptight. But you? You had enough guts to be something."

"Cool," Remus breathed heavily. "I don't really care."

Maleficent glared. "I'm going to kill you, Remus. You can't escape it. But you can make it easier."

"So?"

The fairy vanished in a small puff of fire, reappearing behind him but Remus was prepared to block her strike. "So, lay down your weapon and I'll make it quick."

Remus nodded but didn't stop fighting. "Actually, I don't think I will. Now, here's my idea. You fuck off and take your friends with you."

"Actually," Maleficent's' sweet smile vanished, turning to one of hate. "I don't think I will. I would say it's nice knowing you but I never really cared."

"Of course you didn't," Remus replied, jumping over her foot as she tried to sweep his feet from beneath him. "I would say, I've enjoyed my life, but I never stopped long enough to savour any of it."

The fairy sneered. "You always had something to say, you little, cheating rat."

"I'm not much of a rat or a cheater," Remus panted, and he began to smile. "But I sure as hell am a surprising octopus!" And he finally tested out the only magic he knew for the first time in his life.

.:*:.

Janus left Patton with the dying Logan. He had to be fast. He couldn't save Logan if the bastard died. Scouring everywhere desperately, Janus appeared everywhere he could, looking for the lamp. He had it, only minutes ago, and, now, it was nowhere to be seen.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He shrieked, stamping his feet impatiently. His lamp was no where to be seen and it drove him mad.

That's when gold glinted out of the corner of his eye, somewhere in the wreck of the burning forest. Gold, reflecting liquid-like flames, resting in the curled finger of his father.

"Looking for this?" Jafar called across to him.

Janus bristled instantly and warped over to his father. "I thought you were out of the fight," He growled, making a grab for the lamp but Jafar held it high above his head with a wicked grin.

"Only for a while, boy. You should know by now, Janus, that I don't like going down without a fight."

His son glared. "Give me my lamp."

"Why?"

"Because, otherwise, someone's going to die."

Jafar raised an eyebrow. "Someone's going to die? Look around, Janus! Everyone is going to die! With the lamp or not, you can't revive them! Not even I could" Just give up, come with me! We don't even need to be here anymore. We don't have any more parts to play."

Janus glanced over his shoulder briefly, staring for a second at the carnage. Through the wafting smoke of the burning forest surrounding him, he could see Auradon Prep crumbling to the ground as the flames flickered faster and further, crawling out onto the fields and surrounding life.

Maleficent was firing projectiles anywhere she could, when she was able to break away from her fight with Remus, in which she was winning. Roman was defenceless, crouched on Virgil's' snout, the dragon rearing his head down as if it were going to fling him away, and students were falling to the ground, choking and gagging in the suffocating air.

"Maybe people will die, whether I have the lamp or not," Janus said softly. He turned to look at his father, who stood amongst the flames victoriously. "Maybe I should just give up. Maybe... I just join you..."

"That's the spirit," Jafar smiled twistedly. "Come, boy, I can make sure you live. Join me, Janus, and we can go far away from everyone else. Maleficent, Ursula, the Isle of The Lost. We can be father and son and forget about all of this." He extended a dark hand.

Time seemed to slow, yet Janus's' heartbeat was racing in his ears, getting louder and louder. Hesitantly, his own hand began to move, fingers stretching out, and he shut his eyes tightly as he grabbed his father's hand.

"You see, child?" Jafar began. "You don't need them. We can be the most powerful genies in the world, we can be free and we can take Auradon with or without Maleficent. Don't you understand?"

"I do understand," Replied the half-genie quietly. Then his head snapped up, he fixed his father with a cold glare and tightened his grip rapidly on his hand, making the other genie screech in surprise. He wrenched Jafar to the ground, slamming his knee down on his back to keep him there, and wrestled desperately to snatch his lamp from his father's' hand. After agonisingly slow seconds, Janus pulled it free, stumbling off of his father with the force. 

Jafar began to sit up brokenly, a hateful snarl coming from him, but Janus smacked him hard on the head with his newly retrieved lamp. The hot metal collided loudly with the genie's' skull and he fell to the ground, unmoving.

Janus stood up. "Maybe people will die, whether I have the lamp or not," He repeated breathlessly. "But I sure as hell can save a lot more if I have it."

And he fled, leaving his father either unconscious or dead in the flames. He wished to be by Logan's' side and, in a puff of yellow smoke, stumbled next to Patton, nearly tripping in his desperation.

The scene was heart-shattering.

Logan's' spasms were even worse, his breathing was now rattling and the foam had grown bloody and bubbly. All the students were kneeling beside him, crying softly. All except Patton, who spun around to face him.

The prince's' face was coated with still running tears and his eyes were desperately pleading. "Have you got it?"

Janus could only nod, glancing at Patton before looking back to Logan, horrified. "Fuck... He's not dead, is he?"

"He will be soon," One student, the daughter of Mulan whispered, fingers on Logan's' neck. "I can barely feel his heartbeat-"

The lamp was yanked from Janus's' fingers by Patton, who rubbed it vigorously. Janus's' surroundings glitched - in one brief second he was inside the lamp, before appearing out of it - and he focused on Patton.

"What is your wish?" He asked rapidly.

"Get the poison out of Logan, now," Patton commanded, quickly giving back the lamp. Janus nodded and shoved several people out of the way so he could kneel down next to the dying prince. He felt the magic surging through his veins and he began to push it into the prince.

He felt the magic leave him and watched Logan light up with a golden haze and, for a moment, he thought it might work, that he might save Logan's' life, the bastard prince, but Mulan's' daughter still cried out, "I can't feel his heartbeat," even after the golden haze and flitted away.

.:*:.

There are supposed to be many things one can think of when falling to their death.

Roman couldn't think of much, himself. He thought of his mother and father first. Then Patton and Logan. He hoped the four of them were all okay. Then he thought of Virgil. Maybe someone would get him out of it, even if he had failed.

But then he thought of Ali.

He didn't want to. He didn't want his last thoughts to be about Aladdin's' son. In those tiny milliseconds, as he rose higher and higher, he had come to terms that he didn't care about what Ali had to say anymore. Or what Ali wanted to do, or what Ali wanted him to think, or what Ali did. Maybe Ali was dead. Maybe Ali was alive. Whatever he was, Roman didn't care. He could let go of him now.

Wow, he was still flying up it had been about a minute, maybe. It had certainly felt like it. The wind rushed painfully into his face, moving so fast that ash and dust were beginning to scratch deeper and deeper into his skin.

The breeze was madly strong yet it wasn't blowing him off course. Roman flew through a cloud and brackish water entered his cuts, making him yelp loudly in pain. He moved weakly to touch a stinging scar by his eye, whimpering quietly at the agonising pain. But the moment he moved, he lost momentum and he slowly tipped backwards.

In one heartbeat, he was paused in mid-air, amongst the clouds, soaked to the skin, freezing, and lacerated with small scratches. The next, the wind began to buffet him madly across the sky and he plummeted diagonally towards the ground, suddenly finding the air to scream.

He screamed and wailed and cried and shouted, flailing madly like a ragdoll in the winds. His screeching echoed loudly as he was flung around limply. It was almost like the gusts were battling over him, pulling him all over the place and letting his tears drip down like rain.

Maybe, just maybe, someone had seen Roman. He was below the clouds now, tossed about like a ball, and his screams were growing hoarser yet louder. The further he fell, the faster he got and he soon found himself rushing to greet the ground. He wasn't going to survive this one. There was no way.

.:*:.

Although Maleficent and Jafar were almost overpowered with magic, Ursula still possessed some. She was a sea witch after all.

And magic is something in ones' blood. Remus had her blood in his blood. And he too had had magic flock to him when he left the Isle. But his magic was different. Instead of having a lamp or cool fairy tattoos, he got a unique little quirk. Tentacles. A lot and a lot of tentacles.

All of a sudden, Maleficent was losing. This brat had suddenly gained an unforeseen strength as large tentacles burst from his back and easily battered away her attacks. Every time she went to hit one, another would come out of nowhere and swipe at her, forcing her to play defensively.

No longer was she going to force him into the fire, no, because he was making her retreat desperately, stumbling over her own feet. In a fit, she lost her long, poisoned nails and reverted to magical means of destruction but Remus was too quick.

He propelled himself through the air, ducking expertly low and leaping freakishly high, his tentacles always ready to catch him and keep him safe.

Maleficent threw all she had at him, from murderous bats, crushed by his morning star, to shadowy dragons, choked by his tentacles. Eventually, she even hurled elemental magic at him, sending gales of wind from her palm, mini geysers from her fingertips, jets of flame from her fists and boulders tore up from the ground to lunge at the villain's' son. But the bastard still wouldn't die.

She screamed in rage, her attacks less tactical and now random, savagely attempting to bring Remus down but she just couldn't do it.

Meanwhile, Remus was finding this hilarious. He laughed and cackled, dancing around the furious fairy delightedly. She was going to exhaust herself sooner or later and they both knew it.

"You can't just fire magic out of your ass, twenty-four, seven!" Remus crowed, ducking lightly under a stream of squawking crows.

"Neither can you!" Screamed Maleficent, losing logic and reason slowly. "You can't have those tentacles forever!"

Remus shrugged, swiftly moving to the side as she lashed out. "I know. But I've never done this before. I've got a lot more magic than you to spare right now."

Maleficent snarled, vanishing briefly before reappearing a good distance away. Remus chased after her but they both froze when they heard the same thing. Screaming. Loud, clear screaming, getting closer and closer, yet the two were standing alone. They slowly looked up, to see someone begin to plummet towards the ground.

"Roman!" Gasped Remus, more surprised than anything else.

Now Maleficent smiled again. She sent a gust up, lifting up the prince and tossing him a little higher as if to give him more time to live.

"Now, Remus," Maleficent grinned as Roman began to fall again. "Kill me or save Roman. There's no way you'll have time to do both."

.:*:.

"There's got to be a mistake!" Patton cried. "Janus, Janus, help him!"

"I'm trying, Patton!" Shouted the half-genie furiously. "Back off, everyone get away from us!"

Obediently and fearfully, the students rain away, leaving Janus to struggle. Logan's' spasming were slowing, and he seemed to be taking in one deep, possibly final breath. He was going to die.

"No, no, no!" Screamed Janus, hating the feeling of uselessness washing over him. Everyone was watching him. Everyone was relying on him. "No, no, no, I just need more time! I need more time!" He threw as much magic as he could into the prince but nothing seemed to work. Then his mind cleared. He knew it.

Snatching his lamp furiously, he rubbed at it madly, thinking his wish over and over in his head. Logan's' breathing paused as he began to sigh out his final breath when it happened.

The noise was muted, everything and everyone was frozen. Janus looked around and saw, in the sky, lightning very slowly beginning to etch itself out into the sky.

"I did it," He whispered. The half-genie had succeeded. He had given himself a lot more time.

With a freakish calmness, he breathed out and began to work on the poison. He sat up a little and sent a silver, golden sliver down Logan's' mouth. He watched it enter his body and watched the golden haze light up, just like it had earlier.

Standing up, Janus began to pull at it, dragging it back out. He stared as the yellow strand began to emerge from his mouth and, clinging to it in a writhing fashion, were beads of ugly poison. And there was a lot of poison. Janus kept working away at it, forcing it out slowly. If he went to fast, he might yank out the prince's' spine. Eventually, the yellow thread ended and he let it drop to the ground with a very, very slow descent.

He crouched back down next to Logan, weaving a small ball of air amongst his fingers and gently carried it to his mouth and tipped it in. For a moment, nothing seemed to work. Maybe he had died. But then he saw Logan's' chest begin to softly rise and time kickstarted again.

High in the sky, lightning flashed and Logan sat up with a loud gasp, sweating and panting. Behind him, Maleficent's' poison dropped to the ground and Janus fell back too, feeling drained.

Patton rushed forwards to Logan, hugging him tightly. "You're alive! You're alive!"

"I-It seems so," Logan whispered quietly. "What... What happened?"

"Maleficent poisoned you," Patton explained breathlessly. "Janus just saved your life."

Logan turned his head slowly, eyes wide. "You... Saved me? I-"

"Yeah, you're welcome, specs," Huffed the half-genie, feeling his eyes droop tiredly. "Now I'm going to take a nap."

.:*:.

Remus jumped up instantly, his tentacles giving him the strength needed to catch up to Roman. He wrapped his arms around the prince, who looked at him in surprise and disbelief, before pulling them both back to the ground alive. Maleficent had fled the scene.

"Saved ya," Remus panted with a grin.

Roman blinked. "Thank you," He whispered brokenly. "Thank you so much."

"Don't sweat it, prince dude. Patton is over there, if you need him," He pointed lazily. "Need help over there?"

Roman nodded slowly and then yelped as Remus grabbed him again and used his tentacles to cross the distance to the huddle of students in no time.

Patton and Logan were tightly embraced, the students were celebrating and Janus was lying spreadeagled on the ground, taking in deep breaths. Remus dumped Roman with his two best friends and landed next to Janus.

"Hi, sweetheart!" He chirped brightly.

Janus blinked open an eye and looked at him. "Did you just unironically call me sweetheart?"

"I did."

"Have you changed your hair or something?"

"No, but I got tentacles!" Remus made a coy face. "I'm thinking they'll come in a lot of use for us if we get out of here alive and can find a bed, y'know..."

Janus went red and hid his face in his hands. "Remind me why I love you..."

Remus gasped dramatically. "You love me? Oh, but Janus! How can that be? We barely know each other, it's-! It's so soon!"

"Bitch," Huffed the half-genie. "I've known you from the moment I was born."

Despite himself, Remus smiled softly and offered a hand. "C'mon, hot guy I like a lot, get up. We've gotta stop our best friends' mum before she kills us all!"

Janus looked at the hand, then sighed, sitting up. He took Remus's' hand without hesitation, letting himself get pulled up. Patton was filling Roman in on what happened to Logan and the rest of the students were calming down. For a moment, it was like the fight was over. But it wasn't.

"Oh, dammit," Growled Janus and he walked over to the three princes. They looked up at him quickly. "Look," He said. "There's no way we can beat Maleficent with Virgil as a dragon under her control. Vee's already a powerful fairy and Maleficent's' mind games are deadly. We've got to break him out of it."

"And how do we do that?" Roman challenged. "I've tried twice and nearly died twice."

Logan stood up, gaining attention. "Maybe we're thinking about this all wrong. We've got to forget about Virgil and cut the head of the snake. Metaphorically."

"What do you mean?" Patton asked.

"We need to go straight for Maleficent. When she's down, Virgil's' hypnosis will break and then we can sort the rest of the things out."

Remus arched an eyebrow. "Yeah, good idea, but how are we gonna kill Maleficent? It's not like we've got the Fairy Godmother or something."

"Yes, it's a shame, isn't it?" The Fairy Godmother said.

"What the-?! How the-?! Where did-?! What-?!" Remus spluttered, shocked.

The Fairy Godmother was bruised, covered in soot and dust. She was bleeding and her outfit was ripped and torn. She shrugged calmly, twirling her silver wand in her hand. "I got stuck under a rock while trying to save students in the hall. When I got free, I had to get my wand before anything else and, Roman, you left that place like a tip, you'll have to clean it up if we live."

Roman stared.

"Fairy Godmother," Logan said calmly. "We need your help."

The sorceress shrugged. "I'll try. I've used a lot of magical reserves, helping as many students as I can and assisting my fellow teachers, but I've got some things I can try do, if it'd help."

Patton nodded sternly, finally standing up with everyone else. "Then we've got to move quickly. What's the plan?"

.:*:.

Maleficent had fled the moment the opportunity had struck. She had seen Jafar, struggling in the inferno of a forest, trying to save himself. He had cried out for her desperately but she had ignored him, heading straight to her son.

The dragon had stopped setting things on fire. It was lying on it's' belly, snout resting in its' talons. When Maleficent approached, it fixed her with a purple glare and snarled lowly. She roared back and the purple eyes fixed themselves back to the serpent-like green they were supposed to be.

"There we go," She hissed. "You forget yourself. Now, get up!" The fairy barked and the great beast got to it's' feet obediently. There was an exhausted air to it's' movements, sloppily and lazily dragging it's' paws underneath it. Virgil's' wings drooped down his scaled sides, the smoke from his nostrils a lazy trickle, yet the beast was still horrific to behold.

Maleficent was going to retreat. She was going to run far, far away and lick her wounds and come back stronger. The dragon bowed it's' head, letting her climb on when a silvery whip suddenly curled around her waist.

"What?" She whispered quietly, but her surprise couldn't last as she was yanked away from her son, dragged through the muddy ground before reaching a halt.

"Hello, Maleficent," The Fairy Godmother smiled. "Forget about me?"

The sorceress snarled furiously at her. "Fairy Godmother. Where've you been hiding?"

The Fairy Godmother smiled at her and rolled up her sleeves calmly. That was when Maleficent noticed the silver, glistening wand, delicately resting in the fairy's' fingers.

"No," She gasped.

"Bibbidy, bobbidy, boo, bitch," The headmistress grinned.

Instantly, the two sorceress's' lunged at each other. The Fairy Godmother ducked under one of Maleficent's' swipes as the villain dived desperately to take her head. She jabbed an elbow into the darkly-dressed woman's' ribs ferociously, causing her to gasp loudly. Maleficent sent a shock of black energy down at the teacher but she evaded it easily. The brawl was vicious and both landed their fair share of bruises and more.

In the span of a minute, Maleficent's' face was swollen and her lip was busted, while the Fairy Godmother nursed a broken wrist and rested all her weight on one leg, for the villain had sprained her ankle in a shadow attack.

"I won't let you win," The Fairy Godmother growled lowly.

"And I won't let you live," Roared Maleficent madly, charging once more.

An elbow to the jaw from Maleficent, a flock of silver, mutated birds to the stomach from the Fairy Godmother, and they stumbled away again, nursing their wounds once more, breathing heavily.

Out of nowhere, a katana whipped by and pierced Maleficent's' gut. She screeched yet still didn't die, instead vanishing away to look at her new attacker.

"You?!" She cried hoarsely, staring at the determined Prince Logan White. "But-! But I killed you!"

Logan smiled coldly. "Yes, you nearly did. Thank god for genies, right?"

The fairy realised her mistake and turned back to where Jafar was last. He had dragged himself out of the forest, barely, holding the back of his head that seemed to be bleeding badly. The two made eye contact but Jafar didn't make any move to help. He just smiled cruelly and vanished in yellow smoke.

For a moment, Maleficent felt alone. She had lost Ursula and now Jafar was turning his back on her. But the loss soon turned to mad, unfathomable rage. With an animalistic shriek, she lunged for Logan but he evaded lightly, now calmer and more alert. Something lashed at her back and she caught the Fairy Godmother out of the corner of her eye, pointing her wand and firing calculated shots with her silvery whip.

Meanwhile, Virgil stood, slightly bewildered. Its' eyes were torn between two colours as it watched the battle, unaware of anything else, so it startled when a hand was placed on its' paw. The dragon looked down to see Janus.

"Hi, Virgil," Janus smiled. "How are you?"

The dragon froze and, briefly, his eyes were purple, before it looked at Janus indifferently.

"You don't have to listen to her, Virge," The half-genie kept the soft smile on his face and Virgil saw Remus approach Janus from behind. "You never had to listen to anyone."

"Virgilious!" Shrieked Maleficent from the middle of the battle she was losing. "Kill them!"

Remus grinned gently and waved with one of his octopus tentacles. "Check it out, Virge! I'm an octopus! My catchphrase has meaning!"

"Burn them, Virgilious!" Cried Maleficent.

Roman and Patton turned up behind the two villains. Patton gave him a thumbs up and Roman bowed.

"Hey, kiddo!" Patton called. "I love your scales! They're so pretty!"

The dragon instinctively looked to Roman, expecting some form of a comment. The Prince just smiled gently and blew a kiss.

"Virgilious!" Maleficent roared, turning the dragon's' head. "Burn them, now! Kill them where they stand!"

Virgil looked at her, almost debatingly. The green in his eyes were weakening slowly. Maleficent balled her fists and glared up at her son, making the colours fix back to the glowing purple. Virgil sucked in a breath obediently. He glanced back to Janus, Remus, Patton and Roman briefly and then let out a jet of flame, burning his mother to a crisp.

Maleficent died, screaming in fury, pain and anguish.

Suddenly, everything collapsed. The flames quenched, the lightening disappeared and a gentle rain began to fall. People emerged from tiny hiding places, staring around in shock. It was silent.

The Fairy Godmother walked over to a burnt, crisp, black skeleton. She knelt down, brushing it softly and it crumpled under her fingertips. "She's really gone," The fairy whispered.

"I can't believe it," Logan said quietly.

There was a tiny whimper of pain and terrifying cracking noises could be heard as Virgil's' bones began to snap and reform. Large scales dropped to the ground with loud echoes and the beast began to roar in agony. The cries turned to human yells and screams as the dragon shrank and reverted back to its' own self.

Janus and Remus rushed forwards instantly, both screaming their friend's' name as an unconscious, human Virgil fell to the ground. His ivory body was covered only by a drape of scales that hung around his skin loosely, and he lay limply in Janus's' arms.

Patton also rushed forwards, to check if he was okay and Roman sat down.

"We won," He mumbled tiredly. "We won..."


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! This is the end of 'Villians Or Heroes', so you can go find something far better now! Sorry for the bad beginnings and plotholes, I started writing this very early on in my fanfic career and wasn't very sure where I was heading. If you want to see this in its' original habitat, please check out my Wattpad account, @AnxiouslyShipping, also known as Authorchan. There are plenty more books there, so if you like my writing, please feel free to look!  
> Once again, thank you so much for reading, I hope you liked this story, no matter how rocky it was!

The world was recovering. Breathing. Relaxing. Auradon Prep was being rebuilt slowly and people were scouring the land in search of Maleficent's' fled accomplices. Ursula and Jafar had vanished quickly after leaving her alone. There was really no loyalty amongst true villains.

Roman quietly wandered into the makeshift hospital ward. It was a clean, white marque, elegantly set up, standing proudly in the middle of the school's' field. He brushed past the tarp quietly and made his way past the lines of beds that held injured staff and students. He kept walking until he reached a certain bed.

"Logan," He greeted and the son of Snow White looked up from his book. "How are you?"

Even though Janus had healed him, Logan was still kept under more professional care. He was no longer poisoned, but he still had deep wounds and had breathed in a lot of smoke. However, he was lucky - he had one of the best conditions in the whole school.

"Roman," Logan said, with a smile. "I see you're back again."

"That I am, specs." Roman walked over and sat at the foot of his friends' bed. "I brought you some new books, but these are all that's left from the library."

Logan sighed sadly. "Such a shame. Such beautiful knowledge, stolen from us all too soon."

Roman passed over the new books. "You read the whole library twice, you don't have a right to complain about it." Logan set the books on the bedside table and Roman grinned cheekily at the sight of soft blue flowers in a vase. "I see you've got some flowers. Has Patton dropped by recently?"

Logan rolled his eyes in an annoyed manner, but Roman knew that Logan appreciated it. "He has visited me several times, yes, but those flowers are from my mother."

"Ah! Snow White came to visit you, did she?"

"Of course, she did, Roman. She's my mother. Father accompanied her too, but the nurse didn't let the dwarves in. They were far too dirty to be allowed into a hospital ward. I mean, they were covered in soot and coal dust, and several people here seem to be developing breathing problems," Logan sighed again. "I kind of wish they were allowed in to see me. They're not half-bad, no matter how stupid they are. They remind me of you."

Roman frowned. "I'm not stupid."

Logan smirked. "Keep telling yourself that. Oh, and, by the way, I thought you might want to know that Virgil woke up a few hours ago."

Roman perked up. "He did? What happened?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but the nurses made sure he ate something, he let out any building magic and he coughed a lot." Logan pushed his glasses up higher and cleared his throat. "I think Maleficent forcing him to shift into a dragon, before he was naturally ready to, used a lot of built-up magic. We haven't had any magic coming and killing us as we sleep."

Roman nodded. "That's good. I'd hate it if you died, there wouldn't be anyone to get notes from."

"Go to hell," Logan said.

"Love ya too," Teased Roman, standing up and patting Logan on the head. "Keep reading specs, try not to miss me too much."

"Whatever. Enjoy watching your boyfriend sleep, dickhead."

"Virgil's not my boyfriend, jackass!" Roman called over his shoulder, strolling away from Logan to the bed just next to him, hidden by a wall of tarp.

Virgil was lying down on a hospital bed, eyes closed softly. It was like he was in a semi-coma. He'd wake up every now and then, randomly, but then slip into a nearly unresponsive sleep. Honestly, half the people in school expected him to die.

Quietly, Roman sat down on a small chair by his bedside, thoughtful and confused. He had visited Virgil every day and he wasn't entirely sure why. He knew that part of it was a feeling of responsibility. He had stolen the wand with Virgil and released Maleficent in the first place. But there was another part of him that knew it wasn't the only reason. Virgil meant something to him.

Since he had found out, after the battle, that Ali was actually dead, he felt a little lost. Everyone told him that Ali was terrible but he still felt awful, like someone had stabbed a knife into his gut and twisted it. But that didn't stop the fact he was relieved he wouldn't have to worry about Ali again. He's always fretted about pleasing him and keeping him close and now there was no need for the panic.

But still... Ali was dead and Roman wasn't sure what to do.

"Ro-man?" A hoarse voice whispered, making the prince jump from his thoughts. Virgil was squinting up at him from his hospital bed, looking confused. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Roman raised an eyebrow. "What a lovely way to say, 'Hi, Roman, glad to see you're not dead'."

Virgil grumbled and tried to sit up slowly. "My head hurts like hell."

"I'm not surprised," Roman commented. "Fairy Godmother said Maleficent had been in your mind before you even left the Isle of The Lost."

"Fuck, really?" Virgil frowned. "That was why her eyes flashed when she looked at me. Where is Mother, anyway?"

Roman glanced away awkwardly. "She's kinda... well... dead..."

"No way," Virgil said, eyes widening and sitting upright in a flash, leaning in towards Roman. "What happened?"

"We-ell," Roman nervously danced around the issue, fidgeting his fingers. "I think you melted her?"

Virgil arched a cynical eyebrow. "What do you mean, I melted her?"

"I mean, you breathed your dragon breath on her and kinda eradicated her existence."

Virgil stared at him. "Please tell me you're joking."

"I-I'm not..."

"I killed my mother?"

"Yes-"

"Damn, and I don't even remember it? That's unfair," Virgil glared vaguely in the direction of Roman but not specifically at Roman. "The greatest moment of my life and I have no recollection of it. Was it badass?"

"Y-Yeah, it was pretty badass," Roman said, shocked. "Y-You're not u-upset?"

Virgil shook his head brightly. "Not in the slightest! I hated that fucker!"

"Oh, well, um, good for you! Glad she's dead."

"How are Janus and Remus?" Virgil asked.

Roman thought for a second. "I think they're doing fine. We still haven't found their parents, Jafar and Ursula sort of ran off. Well, Jafar ran off. Ursula sort of got thrown. A long distance."

"I have no recollection of this but it all sounds epic," Virgil said, nodding sagely.

The prince looked away and then said awkwardly, "Hey, I, uh, had a question I wanted to ask you and, now you're awake, um, I was wondering..."

He trailed off nervously and bounced one leg in quick succession.

"What?" Virgil asked.

"Before Maleficent sort of came out properly, you kept acting weird around Janus and Remus but always acted normal with me but," Roman swallowed, "Then Maleficent got you to hypnotise me a-and we sort of stole the Fairy Godmothers' wand and set them free. I was wondering if you remembered any of that."

The mood had changed so suddenly that the air seemed cold.

Roman glanced at Virgil, who looked politely confused and looked away again quickly. "I-I don't know, it was just like we had, erm, gotten close and became good friends, but I wasn't sure i-if that was actually you o-or Maleficent, a-and I wanted to know." He finally maintained eye contact with Virgil. "D-Do you remember any of that?"

Virgil hesitated. "I... don't remember any of that."

Roman felt his stomach drop and the blood rush from his face. His heart seemed to freeze up and he felt the odd need to cry. First nearly plummeting to his death, then Logan in hospital, then Ali being dead and now this?

Virgil punched his shoulder with a grin. "I'm just kidding, princey, honestly! I mean, I don't remember being weird around Remus or Janus but I remember lots of stuff about you."

"Well, I remember you being a little less of a jerk," Roman grumbled grouchily. The sorcerer just raised an eyebrow and sent a small gust of magic wind to mess up Roman's' hair. The prince squealed indignantly. "Hey, no, knock it off, unfair!"

"Sorry, but this is what I do," Virgil smirked, lying back down on the bed. He frowned, sat up and looked behind him. "These pillows are terrible. I was just getting used to the dorm ones, as well!"

"About the school, that has been pretty much destroyed."

"Huh?!"

Roman winced. "Yeah, blown up, burnt down, caved in. Dragon Virgil is a monster."

Virgil pouted. "Well, then, I need pillows. Roman come here."

"Huh?" Roman leaned forwards. "What is it-?"

Virgil grabbed him, pulled him across the head of his bed and then rested on top of him. "There we go, finally."

Roman went bright red. "H-Hey, you can't just do that! I have personal boundaries, y'know!"

Virgil didn't reply for a while. Then, a few seconds later, he said, "Roman, what are we?"

"Huh?"

"I mean... We're not friends but we're not enemies. So what are we?"

Roman blinked and then started to think. "I don't know... Never really considered it."

"I thought about it a lot, in the memories I remember," Virgil said. "And I still haven't figured it out."

"I mean," Roman rolled onto his back and sat up. "I'd like to take you out on a date sometime but you'd need to agree."

Virgil hummed. "I wouldn't mind going on a date with you. I mean, you're hot and your personality isn't half bad."

"You're hot too, and- wait, what do you mean 'isn't half bad'?! I'm charming!"

"Say whatever you need to make yourself feel better," Virgil smirked and Roman glared at him.

"I take back my previous statement. You are such a jerk."

"Oi!" Logan shouted from where his bed was. "Keep the flirting down, dipshits!"

.:*:.

Fairy Godmother looked at the wreckage of her school and sighed. It could be rebuilt so quickly with some magic, but the King and Queen had insisted on letting professionals who knew about building structure complete the task.

It didn't look very hard, in her opinion, but looks were never everything. Subconsciously, she looked down at her arm. The threat of Maleficent was gone, there wasn't a single mark on her arm, and she let herself relax. There was no more danger, no more fighting. It was safe.

Fairy Godmother sighed and let herself smile. Just because the school was gone didn't mean they couldn't celebrate.

She turned back to the school that was sitting cross-legged on the grass below the makeshift stage. Today was time to thank Auradons' new heroes. Tightening her grip on the display case proudly, she continued her speech.

"It is thanks to the bravery and the teamwork of these five individuals that Auradon is still here today. So, please, join me in thanking them."

She opened the display case and pulled out glittering sapphire brooch with silver highlights that was simple yet stunning. "Thank you, Prince Logan," She said, pinning the brooch to his jacket. Logan had a small, happy smile on his face and straightened his back happily.

Then she pulled out a golden brooch enamoured with rubies and amber, the twin tails of a red ribbon peeking out beneath it. "Thank you, Prince Roman." Roman grinned proudly and started to look over the brrosh eagerly.

The next brooch was softer and calmer than the last two, with pale blue jewels and white gold making its' regal form. "Thank you, Prince Patton," She said. Patton beamed up at his teacher with delight.

Fairy Godmother then pulled out the next brooch. Gold, topaz and tiny silver flowers decorated the brooch that she pinned to the half-genies' jacket. "Thank you, Janus," Fairy Godmother said, feeling terrible for the lack of titles but Janus didn't seem to mind. He looked delighted he had a reward at all.

The last brooch was littered with emeralds and silver, with tiny onyx stones studded in. It was beautiful and she almost felt bad when sticking it to Remus's' chest. "And thank you, Remus," She smiled at him and Remus grinned.

"Alright, this is going straight to the marketplace," He decided before getting elbowed by his boyfriend. Remus cleared his throat, "Um, I mean, thank you very much, that means a lot."

Fairy Godmother laughed in amusement and rolled her eyes, turning back to the assembled school. "Please, give them the deepest thank you you can!"

Everyone jumped to their feet, applauding loudly and Virgil appeared in between his two best friends in a puff of smoke with a wide grin.

"Don't start acting too good for me, now you've got pretty jewelry, you bastards!" He said teasingly, with happy tears glistening in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I don't speak to people without congratulatory jewelry," Janus sniffed haughtily before getting Virgil in a tight headlock and rubbing his hair aggressively. "Don't start getting jealous, now, Virgie, it doesn't look good on you!"

Remus picked up Virgil's' ankles. "Quick, Janus! Let's run, Roman can't stop us if we get a headstart!"

The half-genie and his boyfriend began to bolt it, letting the fairy scream loudly as they ignored him.

"Hey, don't kidnap my boyfriend!" Roman yelled in protest, taking off after him.

As the three idiots and one screaming idiot began to fade from sight, Logan sighed and held Patton's' hand in his. "Why do we interact with people?"

"Because they'd die without us."

"So true," Hummed Logan as the school continued to cheer for them.

They could be safe at last.


End file.
